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I made a brief post about this on the Facebook page, but I didn’t go into a lot of detail so I’ll try to explain what happened and what is going on now. Bear with me. Previously, I had hosting associated with the domain name debslosingit.com and in that hosting I had a WordPress MU installation. MU lets you host multiple sites under a single installation.  One of the secondary sites under it was this one, and I used a domain mapping plug in to make it appear that Kittyloaf Designs was under its own hosting package. For the most part it looked great and I’m betting you were none the wiser. Everything looked great. Then I decided that my personal blog, which was housed under the debslosingit.com domain name wasn’t something I wanted to continue any longer so I opted to stop paying for it and let it expire. That meant I needed to switch the primary domain on my hosting to the kittyloafdesigns.com one, which was done quickly and easily. Before that was done, I removed the domain mapping plug in from my WordPress installation so it wouldn’t cause any problems. Unfortunately I think it did something toRead the rest…

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As I briefly mentioned on the Kittyloaf Designs Facebook page, since our renter moved out, I have been crazy busy with cleaning up the house. I want to be crafting but there’s just not enough time in the day and after I spend all afternoon dusting, vacuuming, organizing, and sorting things out for donation, there’s just no energy left in me for the rest of the day. The house is looking great, but I’m pooped! I’ve glued a few things back together, hammered a few nails, and screwed a few screws, but nothing I can really call crafting. On the upside, I have vacuumed up more dog hair, dusted more furniture and electronics, put away or donated so many things we don’t use, and have made so many small improvements to the house I feel great about it. I’m hoping in the next few weeks I can get caught up on the cleaning and take some time to do some crafting that I can share with you all. Until then, keep crafting or if you don’t craft, keep supporting those who do!Read the rest…

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I’ve been working on adding new items to my shop that I’ve recently made or have decided not to keep. There’s more yarns in my shop now, one of which is temporarily free, and the rest of which are all on sale. I fear there is an excess of pinks but it wasn’t intentional. I’m planning on heading out to my craft room later and moving the for sale yarns into bins out of my way so I don’t have them taking up space in my stash of yarns I actually want to keep and use. You can see all yarns I have for sale by clicking here. I’ve also added some new bracelets to the shop in a variety of colors and styles. You can see all of my bracelets here. All of them pictured below are currently in my shop and all contain unique components and designs.   I still have some other fabrics to add to my shop, but I’m honestly tempted to just donate some of them to thrift. I feel like I am more interested in destashing unwanted stuff then waiting for a buyer and it would be the easiest and fastest way to go. IRead the rest…

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You’ve probably noticed all the changes I’ve been making have been moving towards one big thing – simplification. I keep several blogs but sometimes it can be too much to keep up with all of them. As a way to resolve that, I’m combining my sewing and crafting blog into one with the Kittyloaf Designs blog. A lot of the content really does overlap and it just makes sense to have it all in one place. I will be keeping the debsinstitches.com domain name for a while but it will point here once I get all of the content from that blog moved over to this one. It will probably take a few days but I feel like it will be worth it. I’m also seriously considering combining the Deb’s Cooking blog with my personal blog. I just feel like I can do better for you with less to juggle, and with more content in less places. Its taken me about a day, but I finally have the content moved over from debsinstitches.com to here, and now I just have to rearrange some of it a bit and make it all work together. That will be the most difficult part,Read the rest…

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I have a good friend who has her eye on a domain name (one she’s wanted for years actually and is still available- yay!) and she’s thinking about buying it and setting up a web site. I told her to let me know and I will help her get set up. I honestly have no idea what she intends to do with this possible web site but I’m really hoping she decides to do it and we can work on it together. Having a web site can be a lot of fn and give you a creative outlet. I gave her my referral link to my web host, A Small Orange, so I will get a percentage off on my new renewal, and I also gave her a coupon code so she can save 15% as well. If you are in need of a new host, A Small Orange has fantastic up-time, and their customer and tech support can’t be beat. I honestly cannot say enough good about them after using them for about 5 years. If you use this link (http://asmallorange.com/?ref_id=kittyloaf) and use the coupon code FRIENDME at checkout, you’ll save 15% off of your invoice, and I willRead the rest…

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As I’ve been making changes to the layout of the site and tweaking the CSS, I’ve been having a friend take a peek for a second opinion. I felt all the changes were going smoothly, but she tried to load the new site in her Android phone using the default browser and discovered a big problem- the background was loading over the actual content. All she could see as a result was my background image spread across the screen. Apparently this is a known issue with the theme I am working with, but I was able to find a snippet of CSS to force the background into the background where it belongs when viewed. I am hoping this issue is addressed in the next update of the theme, but until then, I’ve got all my modified files backed up and ready for the next updates in case those files are over-written. Some of you probably think this is a lot of work, but I can never leave things as they are and if I see there is room for improvement, I try to make those improvements. Sometimes I get in over my head, but like nearly everything now, the internetRead the rest…

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You’ve come to this page to learn more about me and my work at Kittyloaf Designs, or at least I hope that’s why you’re here! I started doing beadwork as a teenager after remembering a brief flirtation with a beading loom as a child. For a while I was trying everything – peyote stitching over small objects, clumsy brick stitch designs, and I even tried my hands at French beaded flowers which led me to the knowledge that working with wire is not for me.  Then I wanted to learn to sew. I was better at beading, but I didn’t know anything about sewing. I took a class to better learn the basics and have been learning all the time since. I sew most of my new clothes, plus make awesome accessories. I recently bought a serger as well and I love it! Later on I started working with polymer clay and resin and I occasionally do a little cross stitch as well.  I also learned to knit and crochet and I cannot get enough of crochet! In the first few months of crocheting, I did 3 blankets, two of which were queen sized! Besides all of my crafting, IRead the rest…

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I can be reached via email or phone, though I prefer email contact. My email address is design@kittyloafdesigns.com and my phone number is (661) 794-8641. Alternately, you can use the form below to email me. I will respond as quickly as possible. If you’re asking for a cost estimate for a project, please be as specific as possible. I can’t give you an accurate response if I don’t know what you need done. 😉 If you’re not sure what type of project you have, just be as descriptive as possible and explain it as well as you can to me and I will ask if I have further questions before giving you an estimate. Also, please have some idea of what you are looking for if you feel you are ready to begin a project. There is nothing worse from a designers standpoint than a client who says “I don’t know what I want, but I’m sure I’ll know it when I see it.” That only adds up to much higher charges on your bill because of many hours wasted designing and re-designing, and more headache for me as I have no idea what you might want or like. ItRead the rest…

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As part of an assignment for my new Social Media course I am taking, I need to find a way to gain 100 new followers to my Twitter account before the end of next week. If you’ve used Twitter, and you’re not some sort of celebrity, you’ll understand that finding that many new followers in such a short period of time is hard! I need 100 new follows this week for a #SocialMedia class assignment! Help me reach a follower ratio of 3-1 by the end of this week! — Debra Wilson (@debslosingit) March 3, 2013 Obviously, reaching a ratio of 3 in my followers to following is a modest goal compared to gaining 100 new followers. I currently have a ratio of 2.67, and 25 more follows will get me to 3. However, that’s still only an additional 32 follows from where I started when the assignment was unveiled. But hey! Baby steps, right? 🙂 If you don’t use Twitter or want to follow me, please consider doing me the favor of a RT (retweet). The more exposure my problem can get, the better my chances of solving it. If you do choose to follow me, be aware thatRead the rest…

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I wanted to make a few reminders here to my visitors to the site. Although I have many items listed in my shop, I can and will happily make up custom items for you. All you need to do is drop me an email explaining what you’re looking for and I’ll let you know what I can do. This could be a pair of brick stitch earrings in the shape/image of your choosing, or a custom-fabric faux-tie or a purse in your choice of fabrics. There are other items I can custom make as well- just ask! I’d also like to remind you that when you place an order, the items you’ve added to your shopping cart will be listed for you to review. Please review your cart before purchasing to ensure everything is as it should be. I am happy to accept a return of an item if I send the wrong item in error, but otherwise I do not accept returns. Some of my items (such as commercial sewing patterns) I make very little profit on, and it actually costs me more to ship them out then what small profit I make in order for me to keepRead the rest…