Kai Rai Creations: family

I love children's fashion. I mean I REALLY love children's fashion. There's something about those absolutely adorable outfit that as a parent just sends your heart swooning. But even more importantly, there are certain outfits or items of clothing that our children adore.

For Frankie Kai she has gone through stages of loving one of my crochet scarves, there was a point in time when she would not leave the house without a hat, and most recently it has been a pair of ugly Crocs. Ok guys...don't burn me at the stake here. We got them for her 2 or 3 Christmases ago when Amazon had them on sale for $7 with Prime shipping (We LOVE Amazon Prime). I figured, "why not? They'll be great this summer for walking to the pool or water play". But for reasons I don't fully understand she loves those shoes. And it would seem that her feet never grow because they STILL fit. In fact, she's wearing them right now as she builds with blocks.

Here is a classic stage she went through that we still to the day call the "Betty White Era"

She was obsessed with those blue plastic sunglasses from a birthday party gift bag and she had just started to want to pick out her own clothes. (Even if the sweatshirt was super cheesy and way to small!)

Not all girls dress up nicely to impress others, sometimes they do it for themselves, for confidence. -- Anonymous

Baylie Rai on the other hand? She could care less about what she's wearing as long as it's comfortable. Go figure. But she does get excited about anything that she gets to wear that she was able to help me make, as well as anything that twirls. She's so much fun to shop and sew for.

So, what do you do when your child finally outgrows their Betty White stage and you want to dress them on a budget?? There's a lot of places you can go to get cute children's fashion without the huge prices. I've been asked lots of times, "so do you even buy clothes for your girls anymore, or do you just make everything?" And the answer to that is NO! I like the idea of a strictly handmade wardrobe, but we are not there yet. Many of the girls clothes are actually my clothes that I have cut down to fit them. This dress for example:

This dress used to be an adult tube top that I wore waaaaaayyyyy before I had kids. I have a hard time throwing things away and came across it last spring. I just cut it open, sewed a new stitch, and fashioned some straps out of the scraps. I'd say 10% of their wardrobes are handmade by me, 15% is up cycled by me, 60% has been handed down from friends and family, and 15% is store bought by me.

This week I want to focus on where you can find great kids clothes that are fashionable but wont break the bank. So stop by often this week to check out my shopping tips.

Welcome! This blog is a loooooong time overdue. I've made a few other attempts at blogging, but they've never stuck. It's something I've always wanted to do, but the lack of a plan, a focus, and quite honestly, a bit of fear always stopped me from getting to far. Well, now I've got a plan, more focus than I know what to do with, and now that I have those two, the fear isn't quite so great. So let's get started!!

This is me. Wife, Mother, Shop Owner, Fabric Technician, Crafter.

I opened my first shop in November of 2011. I started with a line of jewelry and accessories that I really loved. Anyone who has ever opened an Etsy shop knows how intimidating and nerve racking the whole experience can be. I had only ever shopped on Etsy 2-3 times. But I dove in and by March 2012 I was ready to launch my children's line. the rest is history. I would LOVE to add more lines to my brand, but for right now I'm just enjoying the two that I have and working to make them the best possible.

The other passion of mine is my AMAZING family. I am a stay at home wife to two amazing girls. Frankie Kai and Baylie Rai (hence the Kai Rai Brand). They are both amazing and I'm sure you will read a LOT more about them as time goes on.