VACATION!

Well, it is time for a much needed family vacation at the Cirka home. We will be leaving early in the morning for a long drive across the country. Our final destination will be Pittsburgh, PA on August 1st to visit both sides of our family! I can't wait to see everyone! We did just see Grandama and Pap Cirka in May, but we haven't seen Grandma Chalupiak since November! And aunt Linda and the cousins since March 2007!!!! I can't wait to see how much they've grown!

We will be making a pit stop in Ohio and spending three nights at Campers Villiage at Cedar Point. We plan on spending one day at Cear Point Amusement Park and one day at Soak City! I can't wait to see Heather's face when she sees all the rides and fun she is going to have! Too bad she is just an inch shy of riding all the BIG rides!

And yes, we will be taking our old 1978 MotorHome, I have an "are we there yet?" bag of goodies to be given each time we hear those aweful words, and lots of food and movies! Oh yeah.....and my box of yarn! LOL!! I hope I brought enough! Well, maybe I shouldn't "bring enough" and have to keep my eye out for yarn stores?? Hmmmmm????

I'll post more upon my return!

Hair cut & color!

Yesterday I decided that I wanted my hair done before we left on vacation. One of my dear friends is in Beauty School and always needs new customers. So I BRAVELY decided to let her cut and highlight my hair!

We put some really blond highlights in and actually ended up choppin 5" off the back! It really doesn't look that much different, but I "feel" like I look alot better!

So, I had Heather snap some photos for you. Please remember that I am hot and sweaty right now and these are not the most flattering pics, but I thought I'd share anyways. One of these days I need to get some good headshots done!

Let's go to the Fair!

So this morning Heather and I headed over to the Mesa County Fair. And of course we needed to stop in and look at all the needlework items, LOL!! I wasn't able to enter anything this year, but I did last year and won three ribbons!

While looking at the beautiful items, look what I see!!! It's a Carissa Dress!!! I am so absolutely thrilled at the idea that someone submitted something that I designed!! Turns out that the dress was crocheted by one of my crochet students, Chris. She enrolled in my crochet class for the Carissa Dress a few months ago at Tangle. We had to make some adjustments to the pattern because she needed to make it larger for her 5 year old.

She did such an excellent job! And the judges thought so too! Not only did she win First Prize, she also won Best in Show! WTG Chris!!! I feel like such a proud mama right now, LOL!!

Anyone else have any fair stories to share?

New Fall/Winter 2008 items!

I just finished up most of my new Fall/Winter 2008/2009 line! I am so excited about it! And I even got a few of the items listed! First is this amazing hat and scarf set! It's one size fits most and your choice of two color combinations!

I also have listed The "Beckie" Purse! Also custom crocheted for you and available in your choice of two colors, both with fabulous Amy Butler fabric lining!

And don't forget about baby! Just look at these adorable Ruffle and Ribbon socks! Makes those little toes even cuter!

I also want to say THANK YOU to my friend Robin of Little Boutique Models for all the amazing pictures!

My favorite Place

So, I have two favorite places in the whole world. I want to share them with you!

First, of couse, is my home! The first two pics of the slideshow is my beautiful front yard. My husband is so wonderful and planted all these beautiful flowers for me! When we first moved in 4 years ago, the flowerbeds were all gravel!! He's done such a wonderful job! He even planted some of my favotire flowers! Iris' and Columbines. Unfortunatly all the iris' are gone by summer and I didn't get any good pictures of the Columbines, but you can see all the other beautiful ones! And you can just imagine how wonderful it smells!!! We even have two hummingbirds that frequent the yard!

My second place it Ouray, Colorado. It's about 1.5-2 hours drive from here and at the base of the mountains. The town is full or cute little shops and it's common to see deer walking around! There are some really awesome waterfalls and Heather's favorite...the hot springs pool and waterslide! We head up here to camp at least once a month in good weather. We even like to go visit when it is freezing cold and the snow is REALLY deep! And go SWIMMING! It's such a beautiful town. We would live there if we could. But it's too small for a Chrysler dealership (my dh works for them, LOL!) and waaaaay to expensive to live there!

This was the second weekend in a row that we went tent camping up in the mountains there. It was so beautiful! I had a nice time taking lots of pictures. Hope you enjoy them! For some reason the slideshow is not working....so you can see it if you click here:

Slideshow

Clean up time!

So, I've been very nice and have been taking both my daughter and our neighbor to Vacation Bible School for the last two weeks. Since I take the neighbor, Kathryn, in the mornings, I then have to keep her the rest of the day until her parents come home. Since today is the last day I'll have her, I decided that it was time for them to clean up the playroom. Looks like they have a lot to do, huh???

Wonder how long it will take them?? Any guesses? Well, we they've already been at it for over half an hour!

Looks like we are in for a loooooooooooooong afternoon!

OOPS!!

Now how did I do that?? I had been doing so good about posting something to this blog everyday! And now I see that I missed yesterday!! I am so sorry!!! Please forgive me and I will do better next time, LOL!!!

OK, I do have something to post today, just not the time right now! I will get a new post up this afternoon. Hope you all have a great day!!

Coming Soon!!

The newest Jaybird Designs Original Crochet Pattern is almost ready!! I'm waiting to hear from my testers to see if anything needs changed. I hope to have it ready to sell sometime next week!! Hope you all like it.....it is definately one of my favorites!!

I just wanted to drop you all a quick note to show you a few new items on the website.

I just completed this amazing new wallet! This has got to be my favorite fabric combination! It has lots of room and plenty of pockets too! You can read more about it here!

I also have listed this great little patriotic business card holder!

I hope you all have a great day! I'll be spending mine knitting and crocheting! Well....I gotta finish some laundry too, poo! Plus, tonight is my first Market Bag crochet class at Tangle! Whoo hoo!!

July Free Pattern!

Ok, here it is! The free crochet pattern for July! Again , please read and follow my copyright info....THANKS! Also, this pattern has not been tested, so if you find any errors, please contact me and let me know so that I can fix it.

Picot Mesh Scarf Pattern
by Jennifer J. Cirka/Jaybird Designs

A fun and flirtly scarf for everyday wear.

Copyright
Copyright 2008 by Jennifer J. Cirka (aka Jaybird Designs) all rights reserved. This pattern is for personal use or for gifts only! Sales of this finished product are discouraged. No part of this
document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. Please feel free to link back to this pattern.

Materials
~MC: Bernat Bamboo Natural Blends or any Bulky (5) weight yarn – sample is in Rosehip, 2 skiens needed

~K-10.5 / 6.5 mm crochet hook

~Yarn Needle

Finished Size 5” wide by 55” long, easily customizable
Gauge Not important

Pattern
With MC, ch 20. (or a multiple of 4 sts + 4)

Row 1: sc in 8^th ch from hook. Ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). *ch5, sk 3 chs, sc in next ch ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). Repeat from * across. Finish with ch5, sc in last ch.

Row 2: Turn, ch5. sk first sc, sc in first ch5 sp. Ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). *Ch5, sc in next ch5 sp. Ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). Repeat from * across. Finish with sc in beginning ch8 sp.

Row 3: Turn, ch5. sk first sc, sc in first ch5 sp. Ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). *Ch5, sc in next ch5 sp. Ch3, sl st in sc just made (picot). Repeat from * across. Finish with sc in beginning ch5 sp of previous row.

Repeat row 3 until desired length is achieved. My sample has a total of 59 rows

Row 60: turn, ch5. sc in first ch5 sp. *ch5, sc in next ch5 sp. Repeat from * across. Finish with a sc in beginning ch5 sp of previous row. Finish off and weave in ends.

CyberShower Time!

Well, it's time again for another fun baby shower! This one is for Candace of Mamanista.com!

We were asked to tell a little about our little one's birth stories and I thought I'd share with all of you something that NO ONE EVER told me would/could happen when you give birth! Sooooooo......

WARNING: Giving birth may cause you to threw up!

Yes, I was NERVOUS! But no one ever told me that I could
be so nervous that I could threw up! TWICE!!!

We got to the hospital about one am and were told to walk
around since my water had not broken yet. So we head over to the nursery to see all the tiny little babies. I look at them through the window and start feeling....ummm...nervous. "I'm really going to have to do this, huh?" Next thing I know.....PUKE!! All over the window and floor! Boy, was I glad it was late and there was no one else there but us! (Me, Ron, and our doula-Leslie)

OK, feeling better now...back to walking! About 2:30 am, I am too tired to walk anymore. I go lay down...and of course, the minute I do my water breaks! Woah! Time for a second wind! LOL!

I now head off to the hot tub! YAY! This should be wonderful! Well, the hot water made me puke again! At least this time we were able to find something for me to puke in!

So, after a short soak, it was back to the room and Heather arrived at 4:30 am. A screaming little girl with ....for some odd reason...a bunch of dark hair! It was smooth sailing after that!

NOT!

Free Patterns???

OK, so I've been thinking. How would you all like a free Jaybird Designs crochet pattern every month?? Last month's Pretty Little Headband was such a hit, I was thinking that I would try to write up a small pattern to offer you for free every month. Now, it won't be anything big, complicated, or amazing....but it will be something fun and pretty. So, let me know what you think.

Meet Spot!

Have I ever introduced you to my internet buddy, Spot? He is an African Ciclid and lives in a large fish tank right next to me when I am on the computer. He is a very MEAN fish, is about 5 years old, and is bigger than my hand!!! He likes to play tricks on me and tries to splash me when I sit at the computer for too long, LOL! He has one buddy, the black sucker fish....sorry, we never gave him a name, LOL!! But Spot sure does like to nibble on him at times. Poor littl guy (he's 6" long!).

Now, once a week I have to buy Spot a dozen little "feeder fish" for him to eat. Well, about a month ago the lady at the pet store gave me waaaay more than a dozen! Ever since then, Spot won't eat the fish! (I know, totally disgusting!) He has had these same 10 fish floating around the tank for a month! He still wants fed and will eat all the fish food I give him, but not the fish. I wonder if he is sick? Hmmm....

OK, so now I introduced you to Spot. Anyone else have any strange pets?

Miss July!

OK, so not quite "Miss July", but I've always wanted to have a beauty queen title like that, LOL!! Actually, I am the Chick of the Month over at the Girl Indie Blog! I had the awsome opportunity to have been interviewed by Lisa recently. Stop by and read it when you can!

My Interview

And I am also offering the readers there a discount on my website! Be sure to read the comments to find it!

Sneak Peek!

Well, I've been working on a line of items to sell this fall. I am really excited about them and have sent them all off to the photographer for some awsome photos!! She just sent me a few little teasers and I thought I'd share them with you!! I would whole heartedly recommend Robin Long Photography to anyone! Not only does she do an excellent job, she's got some of the cutest models I've ever seen!

So......coming this fall from Jaybird Designs......

Newsletter Time!

I hope that you all
had a safe and fun Fourth! We had a blast here! Heather now wants
it to be Independence Day everyday!! She absolutely adored the
fireworks that out neighbors lit!

Well, I was busy
crocheting this weekend, LOL!! I managed to get a few new things
listed on the site. My newest favorite is this

Fat Bottom Bag in Navy and Yellow!
This has got to be one of my all-time favorite color combinations!
I hope you like it too!

Another
beauty for mom is this wonderful

beaded shawl/wrap! Be sure to
click on the listing to see some great close-up pictures!

One last item, this
one is for the newest little member of the family! Isn't this the
sweetest little
sundress you have ever seen?

Well, that's it
for now! Be sure to check out all the other
NEW items I have listed! Have a great week!

Happy Independence Day!

I hope you all have a safe and happy Fourth of July Weekend!

HOW COOL!!

So Trevor and I were recently interviewed by the Houston Chronicle Newspaper concerning the unique concept of The Pink Zebra Boutique. We are so thrilled at this opportunity!! You can only imagine, LOL!!!

Last night we found that the article went live on the internet!! It is scheduled to run in the actual newspaper later this week!! Can you tell I'm excited?? LOL!!

You can read the article HERE!

Creative!

OK, so for those of you who don't know my little Heather, well...she is not the most creative child. It took F-O-R-E-V-E-R for her to start playing make-believe and she will only draw a face....nothing else. She has started coloring a little more lately, but that is about it!! Not a creative bone in her body, LOL!! Which is understandable since it seems to skip every other generation in my family. (My grandmother is where I got my creativity from and yet my mother can not even sew a straight line! LOL!!)

Well, anyways....I purchase my cotton yarn by the cone and finished up one yesterday. Heather thought it would make a great party hat!! So I gave her some paint pens and off she went!! She is so proud of herself and wore her "hat" to the library today, LMAO!! I'm just thrilled at the "tiger" spots!