One of the things I am so super excited about is the ability to finally edit & maintain my own site whenever I want to, a freedom I never had before!

stuffbykate.com

Swing by and check it out!!

xoxo SBK

If you missed my Trunk Show a few weekends ago, I’ll just let you know that it was a wonderful success and I promise to post photos of the event soon!! Thank you so much to all who came out and supported me, and I hope you’re all enjoying your new holiday pieces!

I’ll be posting a bunch of fun new hoodies and goodies in the shop today and this week, so stay tuned…but IN THE MEAN time, I have a super awesome sale for my loyal customers!

Take 35% off my in store pieces this week! Just visit my shop and use code SBKSUPERSALE when you check out. That’s it!! If you find some new stuff later this week that you like, don’t worry–I’ll combine your shipping, so don’t hold out!

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year will be good to you too!!

xoxo SBK

:: stuffbykate.etsy.com ::

Just a quick post to remind everyone in the Seacoast are that my Trunk Show is coming up in just a little over a week. EEK!  I hope you can make it!

Mocha pom scarf

I also added some new sample sale jewelry pieces to my Etsy shop this week, just for those of you who can’t make it to the show!

AHOY necklace .

Wild Heart necklace .

Whistle .

Want free shipping?! Use code SBKFREESHIP11 at checkout and save! Shhhhh!

–>visit Stuff by Kate on Etsy now! <–

Thanks so much as always to my customers for your continuing support of the artists, and Happy Holidays to you all my loves!

xoxo

SBK

If you’re in the New England area, please stop by for my Stuff by Kate Holiday Trunk Show!

I’m so excited to display my new goodies…in my brand new showroom! Fan SBK and check out my facebook page to RSVP to the event! Read on for more on the show!

My Dear Friends and Family–

Stuff by Kate presents not one, but TWO nights of fun, friends, and fashion!

Saturday, December 17th, 7:00 pm
Sunday, December 18th, 6:00 pm

Join me on Facebook for the address and directions to the event!

You are invited to stop by my studio & showroom for two lovely evenings to view my newest Holiday collection of couture hoodies, jewelry, scarves, winter accessories and gifts, and so much more! All of my garments & pieces are personally hand made and truly one of a kind, and I can’t wait to share my new designs with you!

Special friends & family discount of 20% off all items, so come ready to shop for your friends, family, and yourself!

Please feel welcome to bring a few friends, family members, or even the boyfriend!

Wine and light snacks will be provided. Please RSVP ASAP!

Thank you as always for supporting the artists!

See you there!

xoxoxo

SBK

I did a little shop update yesterday, and just wanted to let you all know!

I’m still plugging away at (even more!) new hoodies for your viewing and wearing pleasure, so as always, check back soon to see what I feel like making this week

There are a few new sample sale pieces up in my Etsy shop, and each design is available for reorder!

Happy Shopping, and thanks for your support, as always! <3

xoxo SBK

I like you too!

Let’s be friends on facebook

We all know that you want to keep up with SBK and what I’m up to over here; events, photo shoots, wedding dress adventures…I’ve also got a few coupon codes floating around out there right now, as well as a family & friends event and a free shipping special coming up! We can thank Mr. Zuckerberg for making it so easy to share these wonderful things with you!

I may not be on top of everything right now, but like a 6th grade girl, I’m on top of my facebook! So let’s be friends!

xoxo SBK

Between a move back to the east coast after five wonderful years in California, moving into a new studio, and some major renovation projects, I’m finally settling back in to the swing of things! I’ve been stitching up some new projects here and here, working on new designs for spring, and also am tackling my first wedding dress commission!

Needless to say, Kate has been a busy bee!

If you haven’t stopped by my Etsy shop lately, swing on by and see some of the new pieces I’ve listed. I promise more new designs to come in the following weeks, as well as a fully documented play-by-play of the wedding dress construction adventure!

My website, www.stuffbykate.com will also be getting a face lift in the hopefully near future. So here’s to new adventures, new places, and of course, new clothes!

Stay tuned!

xo SBK

I have found many extremely helpful tutorials at puchicollective.com. The one thing I was finding a bit tricky (and hadn’t found a good tutorial for) was giving Blythe “sleep eyes.” Not a hard procedure I’ve realized, now that I’ve done them–but I wanted to provide a really good tutorial on giving your Blythe her own opportunity for nap time

I think part of the problem was that I didn’t really understand how they worked…so here’s how! When you pull Blythe’s original cord, her eyes close, click, and then re-open with her next set of chips. Giving your Blythe doll “sleep eyes” is quite simple–what you’re basically doing is adding a second pull cord to take the place of the spring, which connects to the slot in the back of her face plate. Without the spring to automatically open her eyes, you can now have control over whether her eyes are open or closed, and can also vary the amount her eyelids are closed.

Here, I’m going to be working on my RBL mold Ichigo Heaven, Charlie, who has bravely volunteered for the demonstration. [to read more about Blythe molds, click here!]

Charlie, IH (RBL)

Ok, here we go!

1. You’ll have to get inside Blythe’s head to give her sleep eyes. Begin by unscrewing the three screws on the back of your Blythe’s head plate.The RBL mold has two larger screws at the bottom, and one smaller screw at the top above the spring. I’ve laid Charlie down on a soft cloth as to avoid any scratching on her face.

Remove the screws from her head plate

If you can’t find a tiny screwdriver (mine has gone AWOL at the moment) a snappy hair clip actually works quite well to get the top screw out.

In a pinch, a snappy hair clip will get that tiny top screw out.

2. Using tweezers or a small crochet hook, unhook the spring in the slot below the screw. Let the spring retract inside Blythe’s head. This is the slot where her new sleep cord will come out through.

Unhook the spring. This is where the new sleep cord will come out through.

3. Pop her head open by gently squeezing her ears together. Here is a good tutorial from puchicollective on scalping your RBL mold Blythe if you need additional help. Once her head is open, snip her charms to free her face plate from her back head plate (or untie them if you plan to use the same cord).

Here is what an RBL Blythe’s head looks like from the inside. You can see her one pull string and her eye mechanism.

This is what Charlie's eye mech looks like.

4. I find it easiest to insert the new cording if you remove the eye mechanism. You might not have to, but I’m planning on giving Charlie some new eye chips while I’ve got her opened up, so I’m going to take it out.

So, I’m going to unscrew the T-bar before removing the eye mechanism.

Unscrew the T-bar.

5. I’m going to replace Charlie’s original cord with a pink one so it will match her new sleep cord. To do this, just snip the cord at the bottom of the white arc, snip the new cord at an angle, thread through and tie a little knot.

(Charlie’s eyes are soaking right now so I can change the chips, but you can leave the eyes in the mech for the next steps.)

I’ve purchased some new colorful pullrings from Twiggy Twiggy, but will probably save the pink pulls for another girl. You can also use kite string, craft cording, or window blind cording and your own charms.

Here, I've replaced Charlie's orignal cord with a pink one.

6. Now we are going to add the second cord to the eye mech that will allow your Blythe’s eyes to stay closed. Again, snip your cord at an angle so it will feed through the hole (I also singed the end of my cord to melt it just a bit and give it a stiffer end that won’t fray). Feed the cord through the hole where the spring is attached and make a small knot. I found knotting on the left side works best.

Thread the 2nd cord through the hole where the spring is attached and tie a knot.

7. Tie a second little looped knot around the other end of the spring to keep it from swinging around in her head. Your spring is not going to be reattached to the back of your dolls head plate. (You can remove the spring all together if you really want to. I leave mine in there just in case I ever want to put her back to normal and take away her sleep eyes.)

Tie a loop around the end of the spring to keep it from swinging around inside her head.

(I’ve given Charlie all new chips while we were adding her sleep cord, so next is to put her eyes back in her mechanism, which you won’t have to do if you haven’t removed the eyeballs)

I've got the eye meck all back together with new chips.

8. Put the eye mech back into the faceplate and screw down the T-bar. (Make sure to not tighten the T-bar too much; I cracked Charlie’s when I was putting it back in and had to repair it with super glue)

You can see the two sets of cords Charlie has now.

9. Feed the original cord attached to the bottom of the white arc back through the round hole in the back head plate. Then, feed the new sleep cord though the slot where the spring used to be.

Thread her cords through the back of her head.

10. Now you are all set to pop her head back together! Put her charms back on, or add new ones if you’d like, and your girl is all set to take a nap!

Reattach the charms.

When you pull the original cord, her eyes will shut and click, but now they will remain closed. To open her eyes, you will now pull the second cord that we just added. Ta-dah! Sleep eyes.

Naptime!

I hope this was helpful and easy to understand. I’m loving learning about Blythe and customizing her…. plus it’s really fun to have an excuse to act like a 6 year old again!

xoxo

Kate

Well, I’ve got news…big news. Big BIG big news in fact! Apple flavored news..?

Ok, enough. Stuff by Kate is moving!..to New York City! I can still hardly believe it.

California, please know that I love you, and this is nothing personal…we’ve had a good run. I will miss your sunshine dearly. But for many reasons, I’ve decided to make the great trek back to the east coast—MY coast.

I’ve been so lucky to have had this wonderful adventure. Over the past five years, I’ve made some wonderful friends, thrown some realllly fun fashion shows, and seen a ton of sights. I’ve grown as a person and a designer. I’ll be taking many good memories (and my California born pup, Koa-bear!) with me when I go. I’m sure my dog is SO excited to live in six months of snow…sorry Bear!

I’ll be heading out on my brand new adventure at the end of April (the 19th to be exact) and I look forward to spending a great summer with my family before heading to the Big Apple in the fall. As much as I loved my California adventure, I’m ready for a new one. A new story line, a new set of goals….keep an eye out, world, because I’ve got my sights set high! I can’t wait to see what New York City has to offer!

So there you have it! My big news. I’m so very excited. Sad, nostalgic, and still a little unsure…but sometimes you just have to jump in the deep end and go for it. I’m going to miss a lot of things a little, a lot of people a little more, and a few certain people an unimaginable amount.

My shop will remain open with jewelry and in stock garments until April 15th, and then I’ll be off. Oh! And you can follow me on twitter to keep track of my journey! I like to tweet, so I promise to do so often on my trip, because I KNOW you all want to see how fun driving across Kansas is.

Thank you all SO so much for your unwavering support of my line, and thank you to my dear friends for giving me the pleasure of having met you all. I’ll send postcards!

See you soon……

Wave goodbye Koa! (ruff.)

xoxo
SBK

These adorable kitchen finds are by Beehive Kitchenware, a husband and wife team from Massachusetts. Each piece is hand cast and hand made to order. I am completely smitten with the heart shaped measuring spoons, scoops, and such sweetheart related trinkets. I can’t think of a better excuse to start cooking!

All (and many more!) are available for purchase in Beehive Kitchenware’s Etsy Shop. Prices from around $20.oo-$80.oo.

Bon appetit!

heart measuring spoons, $42.oo

heart coffee scoop, $23.oo

heart flour scoop, $40.oo

Welp, there you have it. Super cute. You all probably know that I’m no wiz in the kitchen, but with these darling tools (…and maybe a hot pink mixer) I just might rethink using my oven for shoe storage! ( I kid…)

Visit Beehive Kitchenware’s shop for these darling scoops, plus more fun birdie-inspired metal kitchen accessories!

Happy Friday!

xoxo
SBK