The Last Post

Ok, so anyone who has been checking this site this year will have already come to the conclusion that either I am being very slack at posting and it is business as usual or that I have not had enough time to devote to Rainbow Tribe as I had intended and have let it fall by the wayside. Sadly the latter is true. I work full time and my heart just hasn't been in keeping up all the sewing and marketing needed to keep Rainbow Tribe going.

So for now I say goodbye. Thank you to everyone for your support and patronage of Rainbow Tribe. I have had a great time over the past two years creating some great rainbow products.

You can still purchase some Rainbow Tribe designs on t-shirts etc from Cafe Press. They have good quality products, are reasonably priced, and a lot more reliable than me.

I had my last market here in Canberra at the SpringOUT Festival Fairday on 31 October and sold everything, so I have no stock left. It was fitting that I finish there as that is where I launched.

We also have a new project underway at the moment that is taking up our time, head-space and money - we are currently trying for baby #2. When there is news, it will be announced on Gabrielle's website.

If you would like details on how to get rainbow fabric, ribbons, motifs, blank t-shirts etc (within Australia), you can email me on dykes.with.tykes@hotmail.com

So for now this is it from me. All the best to you and yours from me and mine.

Marijke

Health Matters

Happy New Year! I hope you and yours had a great Christmas! We had a very relaxing time and you can see a snippet of ours on Gabby's website.

First the good news - I have been able to secure some more of the summer weight 100% cotton for the rainbow pants, so they are now available again. YAY! I am processing back orders now so if you ordered some from SpringOUT then you will get yours shortly.

The first lot of bad news is that I am unable to source rainbow polar fleece at the moment. Apparently summer is not the time to be buying winter fabric - go figure. :-) This means that sleeping bags, hats and slippers are not currently available. If you do want to order one or more of these for winter, please do so but be aware there will be a delay in delivery for these items.

Now for the really bad news - unfortunately I have had to make the decision to not go to Mardi Gras Fair Day in Sydney this year, due to my health. I had great plans of making heaps of monkeys, pants and other groovy stuff for Fair Day over the past few weeks but have just not been able to do it. Tanya has put her foot down and said I am not to be up until all hours of the night on the sewing machine for the next couple of weeks as I will just make my health worse. Sadly I have had to agree, so no Fair Day for me. (sob) I hope to get there next year though.

I have written a post on ordering from my website. Please read it before placing an order. It is not meant to discourage you at all! I just want to give you a realistic expectation of the process and timeframes from the time you order to delivery.

Also I have had a bit of trouble with parcels being sent but not received. Sorry to those affected. If this happens to you then please let me know. I will help by sending you an email on the day I send parcels from now on so we can both keep track of what is happening. Rest assured that affected customers are being compensated.

Cheers
Marijke

Read this before ordering!

I just wanted to mention a couple of things about ordering from my website.

1. I hand make pretty much everything on the site. I don't make the bags from scratch or most of the t-shirts however I buy these from an interstate supplier and then print them myself. It takes up to 6 business days to receive interstate goods.

2. I don't have much stock on hand ready to send when orders are placed - I have to make them as orders come in. I may have some things made that I sell at markets but other things I make as they are ordered. If I get a number of orders at once I will do the quick and easy stuff first and then the more time consuming products second. Sometimes the fabric I use is unavailable (currently rainbow polar fleece), in which case I will let you know so you can either wait until I am able to source it again or you may change or cancel your order.

3. Because of the points above, there can be a delay of up to two weeks before I send your goods to take into account receiving interstate supplies, time taken to make goods and to, you know, be a wife, mother, friend and employee of the Government of our fine country. Some days I am not able to sew due to my health (I have rheumatoid arthritis which affects my hands - don't worry, I have good drugs so don't feel guilty) and other days I am just plain lazy. :-)

4. If you want or need something quickly, let me know when you order so I can do my best to get it to you on time for the event. If you want something sent quicker than a standard satchel from Australia Post (approx 3-6 working days) then please specify you want an express (next day) satchel and please add $5 to your total order to cover the extra cost.

5. If you are ordering from overseas, please be kind and add $10AUD to the total cost of your order (not for each item) to cover postage. I am sure you are aware that it costs a fair bit to sent packages overseas. I am not able to distinguish postage costs based on location using PayPal. Thank you for your cooperation!

6. If you don't like using PayPal and would prefer to use direct debit or pay by cheque, please send me an email with your order and I will send you banking details or my mailing address. I will dispatch your order when payment has been cleared into my account.

7. None of this is supposed to deter you from ordering - quite the opposite! I LOVE making my rainbow gear and I especially love it when customers get back to me to let me know how much they like them. I like it even more when they send pics! I just wanted to give you a bit of a realistic idea of what happens when you place an order and not to expect it to arrive the next day.

8. If you want to contact me before or after ordering, please email me at dykes.with.tykes@hotmail.com If you would prefer to speak to me over the phone, please send me your phone number and I will call you. I am not overly keen to put my phone numbers up on the website, as I am sure you can appreciate.

Happy shopping!

Cheers
Marijke

Merry Christmas!

and Happy Birthday to me for last Saturday. :-) Thirty-five and I feel every year of it at the moment...so glad I am on leave from work for four weeks!

What a year! New babies (not in our house, but they are EVERYWHERE else), new products, new markets and new parenting challenges.

My baby can ride a bike! Ok, so you can't see the training wheels, but still...my baby can ride a bike! Gabrielle is going to be thoroughly spoiled this year. Santa is bringing her a big-girl bed and Mummy and Mumma are buying her everything else her heart desires. Well...not quite, but if you could see our Christmas tree you would certainly wonder what could we have possibly left out? Gabby has toilet-training pretty much down pat now and wees on the pot and big toilet like a trooper. Poos, well that is another issue. But you didn't come on here to read about Gabby's poos.

I am closing down the Ebay store as of the end of this year. I only get a couple of orders per month through Ebay and the rest come through here, so I figure why pay for a store on Ebay when Blogspot is free and more people come here anyway?

Also I apologise to those few customers who have been inconvenienced by Ebay using the incorrect email address for me lately and not being able to accept payments. Such a pain and is another reason I am letting it go.


The Old Bus Depot Markets have been going really well and I am selling out of things faster than I can make them. Especially the Rainbow Sock Monkeys! Another stall-holder liked them so much she copied them but rest assured that management put a stop to it. Copying another stallholders products is a no-no, so I thank them for backing me up.


I have just signed up to go to Sydney Mardi Gras Fair Day again next year. We had a great time this year and hope to see many of you there again in 2009.



Here is Gabrielle looking super cute in a Christmas wreath headband.

A very happy and safe Festive Season to you and yours from us and ours here at Rainbow Tribe.

Cheers
Marijke
xx

To Market to market to buy some rainbow gear!

We have now been at the Old Bus Depot Markets twice and have had a pretty good day each time overall, so we will be going back there a few more times before the end of the year.

We will be at the Old Bus Depot Markets, Kingston on the following dates:
Sunday 9 November
Sunday 23 November
Sunday 7 December
Sunday 14 December
Saturday 20 December

This weekend is the Canberra SpringOUT festival Fair Day (Saturday 1 November, 10am-3pm) and we will be having a stall there too. I have been sewing up a storm and will have a few new products to launch there. Pics to follow.

Here is Gabby in a pair of pants that I made with some other fabric that I had lying around my sewing room as reported in my last blog entry. Very bright and trendy! Her hair is getting much longer now so it is pretty much always up in a top-knot pony-tail, but she had obviously pulled it out by the time this pic was taken. So girly!

More Monkey Business

Here is Gabrielle playing with all three Rainbow Monkeys - Ruthie Red, Miss Claire Blue and Benoit Black.

I have been looking around my sewing room and I seem to have an awful lot of fabric that is just lying around unused since I started making everything in rainbow stripes. Almost everything else is in a bright colour to match the rainbow stripes so I thought I would start to make some products in these other fabrics to sell at the markets too. As I don't have a regular supply of these other fabrics, you will only be able to buy them at the markets as I'd hate to post something on the web and then be unable to deliver for you if I run out.

We went and had a stroll around the Old Bus Depot Markets this morning. It is a must-see market in Canberra held every Sunday. I have thought about having a stall there for a while and I think I am ready to approach them for an appointment. While it has been good to be at the Baby and Kids Markets, they only happen every few months and the people who come are mostly looking for bargains on second-hand items.

Everyone in our house has been sick lately. Not just a sniffle, but really really sick. Bed-ridden sick. It has been awful. I have missed out on singing with Qwire, Gabby has missed a lot of childcare and neither Tanya or I have had a full week at work for what seems like months. Luckily we have patient bosses!

Hope you and yours are well and happy!

Marijke

New products and new markets!

Here is the latest addition to our Rainbow Tribe - a Rainbow Sock Monkey!



Our Rainbow Sock Monkeys come in three colour choices for the face, ears and bum - Ruthie Red (pictured), Miss Claire Blue and Benoit Black. For only $30 they make a very lovable gift for new arrivals, birthdays or just because! More details here...









Gabrielle loves her Rainbow Sock Monkey and takes it everywhere. She also looks super cute in her rainbow hat and logo shirt. Her rainbow pants must have needed a wash on this day!


Gabrielle has her own blog and is very articulate and entertaining for a two year old. :-) There are more pics of her cavorting with her Rainbow Sock Monkey on her website.

We are going to be at the Baby and Kids Market this weekend in Canberra, so if you are a local then please come along and have some fun with us. We will have HEAPS of polar fleece hats, flannelette rainbow pants, t-shirts, wraps, pram persons, stroller liners, change mats, rainbow hair scrunchies and Ruthie Red the Rainbow Sock Monkey will be there to entice people to order her and her friends! The last Baby and Kids market for the year will be on Saturday 1 November 2008 and we will be there then too.



I am looking into what other markets are happening soon and we are considering being a stallholder at the Newtown Festival (Sydney) on Sunday 9 November 2008, Canberra SpringOUT Fair Day (date TBA), and of course the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Fair Day 15 March 2009. More details when they come to hand...



New products about to be launched are other gift ware items for babies and kids - rainbow felt rattles and blocks, hanging mobiles, a wall growth chart and a rainbow nappy stacker to add to a funky nursery. I am just playing around with them at the moment to make sure the designs are robust and practical as well as being super cute of course!

Thank you to Phyllis for your lovely comments! It amazes me when people contact me and tell me how they came across our website. It seems unreal that I started to make a few bright clothes for my little girl here in Canberra Australia and now you are encouraging me all the way from Prague! Thank you, it means so much. I can't afford much in the way of advertising, so this is gold. :-)

Oh, before I go I thought I would tell you about some products we ordered from the Cafe Press website with our logos on them. They are GREAT! The large coffee mug is HUGE and looks amazing. I also got the plus size white ladies t-shirt with scoop neck and it fits beautifully and I bought the baseball jersey for Tanya and she looks fab in it too. Pics coming soon of us modelling our gear. They were packed very well and arrived quite quickly, especially considering they are coming from the USA. So don't be scared, go to our Cafe Press site and order heaps more clothing and other items. I am in the process of uploading all of our designs on there, so soon you will be able to get all of them through Cafe Press.

Cheers

Marijke

xoxo

Rainbow Sock Monkey

Absolutely everyone needs a Rainbow Sock Monkey! Great for new baby gifts, birthday presents or for anyone who needs a cheery face.

Our Rainbow Sock Monkey is made from a pair of cotton, nylon and elastane socks and is filled with polyester fill. Monkey measures 57cm long and weigh 270grams (give or take as they are handmade!)

You have three colour choices for the face, ears and bum of your Rainbow Monkey - Ruthie Red, Miss Claire Blue or Benoit Black. Buy yours today for $40

Real and online markets

Welcome to Winter! I thought Spring was the time for new beginnings but it seems Winter is the happening time this year. Sooooo many babies are being born or due to be born in the next few weeks. Congratulations to all who are expecting! We are jealous that we are not expecting so we went out and bought some new stuff for us. As you do.

First up this month I am delighted to announce the opening of the Rainbow Tribe store on Cafe Press! Here you can get all of our logo designs printed on to anything from t-shirts to coffee mugs and everything in between. I will still take orders from here for t-shirts etc as I can do them in many more colours than they offer on Cafe Press, but it is actually cheaper on Cafe Press than what I can do them for here. So if you are happy with black or white and the odd colour (mainly pink and blue) then go to Cafe Press. The quality of their printing is excellent as they use professional products, so no worries about washing or the print degenerating. At the moment I have only Rainbow Tribe and Diversity Rocks logos online but am adding all others shortly, so keep checking it out for more designs each week.

Secondly we will be at the Baby and Kids Market here in Canberra on Saturday 21 June from 9am till 1pm at the Old Bus Depot Markets site. Winter goods such as funky polar fleece hats, sleeping bags, wraps etc will be on sale. All summer stock at 50% off! (BKM only, not online)

Gabrielle has decided to give up her day sleeps so goodness knows when I will get anything made now! All good though and maybe I can teach her how to use the overlocker... :-)

Take care,

Marijke

New Products for Winter!

Here is Gabrielle modeling the latest in Rainbow Tribe fashion for this winter! She was very patient for me when I was trying to take pictures, but she was wondering why she was dressed in her pyjamas and sleeping bag in the middle of the day!

Click here for pyjamas and sleeping bags and click here for hats and slippers.

New products coming soon: winter pram bags (a cozy cover and insert combo to go in the pram for keeping cool kids toasty warm on winter walks); baby mobiles and pram toys.

I have also updated the Rainbow Pants page as it seems the pictures were not working. I have added flannelette pants and 100% cotton summer-weight pants to the range. Click here for Rainbow Pants.

Just as soon as I think about closing my Ebay store, I get a heap of orders from there! Go figure. So I will keep it. Also I am opening a store on another site that offers a huge range of products with our designs on them and it will be the primary source of our t-shirts. I will still have some available here though - primarily the pajama packs and special orders. Don't worry, you will get as good if not better quality prints on the shirts from the new site as you would for me directly, plus you get a much bigger range of products. When my new store is ready there will be a link on the right margin near the Ebay link.

All of our handmade rainbow products such as pants, the Pram Person, wraps, bibs, change mat, pyjamas, sleeping bags, slippers, hats etc will still be available here on Blogspot.

So stay tuned for some exciting developments from Rainbow Tribe!

Cheers Marijke

Hats and Slippers

How cute are these hats! Designed to be snug and warm in rainbow polar fleece. Kids $6 each and adults $10 each.

Kids Rainbow Hat $6

Adult Rainbow Hat $10

Just what every little family member needs - Rainbow Slippers! Kids $20 up to size 6.


Rainbow Slippers $20

Bedtime Stories

Be super cute and warm in these winter pyjamas! Get the flannelette pants and long-sleeve knit top for $35 for the set for kids and $50 for adults. Save heaps when you buy them as a set rather than individually below. The shirt comes in three colours - white, bright blue and hot pink - with or without the Rainbow Tribe logo.








Flannelette pants are warm and super-comfy! Get yours now for $20 for kids sizes up to size 10, $30 for size 12 to 18 and $40 for sizes 20 to 26.





Especially for those chilly days and nights, grab a Rainbow Tribe Logo long-sleeve knit top for only $20 for kids to size 14 and $30 for adults xsmall to xxxlarge.









For super-funky babies, this rainbow sleeping bag is a must! Chunky zipper at the front, heaps of length for growing and perfect for cold nights, for kids who can't keep their blankets on or babies who don't like to be wrapped - Rainbow Sleeping Bags are $30 each.

Where have I been?

So sorry about the delay in updating the website. My brother got married over Easter (lovely day, bride gorgeous, groom happy, no fights amongst the guests), Gabby has learned to climb out of her cot (so we took the side off to make it into a big-girls bed).

I am making winter stock but I just need to get the camera out so I can show you the cute pj's, winter hats, flannelette rainbow pants and rainbow baby sleeping bags.

Back very soon!!!

Marijke

Fair Day was a GREAT day!

Welcome to Rainbow Tribe! There will be heaps of new visitors to our site who saw us for the first time at Fair Day. And a big hello and thank you to our regulars from this site and others we belong to who came up and said hi on Sunday too. It was lovely to put names to faces.

We had a great time and we even got a couple of chances to get out and go for a wander. Things were pretty quiet by 7pm, so we packed up and we got back to where we were staying in time to watch Grey's Anatomy. :-)

We learned a lot on the weekend about what you want from us and we got some great suggestions for new t-shirt slogans too. Look out for some in the coming weeks for Nanas and Aunties. So yes, we got the message you want us to keep out adult t-shirt range. :-) The price of adult t-shirts will go back to our original price of $30 each by the end of this week though. All other prices will remain the same.

We have also taken on board your suggestions for new products such as rainbow paint smocks and maternity shirts, and ways to improve our current products such as putting a plastic backing on our bibs. Thank you for your thoughts! Keep them coming!

For now we are going to concentrate on internet promotion and I am looking into moving from Blogspot to a more commercial web site. Rest assured you will always find us! We are considering being at the Newtown Festival later this year and then also at Canberra SpringOUT festival fair day, and we have a few leads for places to stock some of our range in their stores.

I hope your tribe is as happy and healthy as ours!

Marijke

Happy Mardi Gras!

We hope to see you all down at the park this Sunday for Mardi Gras Fair Day! We've packed the car full of all our good stuff for your kids of all ages, and we will be selling out our adult t-shirts for the final time at a market.

Pop in and let us know that you visit us online. We have our credit card facility up and running!

And espeically for Mardi Gras Parade...
If you have a team or a group that need matching t-shirts for the parade then come and see us at Fair Day! We will be taking orders of any number to be delivered before the Parade. Imagine how fantastic your group will look with matching shirts!

For 10 or less t-shirts, cost per shirt is $25 plus postage and handling. For 10 or more, only $21 each plus postage and handling. Due to the tight turnaround, you'll need to get your order in at our Fair Day stand on Sunday, or via email dykes.with.tykes@hotmail.com by lunchtime Monday 18 February. Pre payment is required.

Let's hope the weather holds out and it is a fabulous day!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Cheers
Marijke

Blissful Weekend

We have just had the most lovely long weekend! Gabby stayed home with Nana while we ventured off to Brogo (Sapphire Coast, SE NSW) and stayed 3 nights at a great B&B called Fernmark. Our hosts, Corinne and Hallie were divine, and their son Baylee is just gorgeous. If you are ever looking for a relaxing place to stay that can also accommodate dogs and kids, then this place is for you. We were in one of the no dogs or kids rooms - Africa. Our fellow housemates were great and we will be keeping in touch. Hope everyone made it home safely.

Now it is back to work and we are gearing up for our biggest market yet - Mardi Gras Fair Day. If you are there please come and see us and let us know you visit us online.

We are still running out our adult t-shirts and once they are sold there will be no more so get in quick!

It is back to school for kiddlets either this week or next week, depending on where you live. Hope it is a smooth transition either into school or up to the next class.

Cheers
Marijke

Happy New Year!

And January is already half over. Only one month till Mardi Gras Fair Day - eeek!!! If you make a purchase from us at Fair Day and mention that you lurk on our website, we will give you a free magnet to say thanks!

We have decided not to continue to stock adult t-shirts and just concentrate on our kids range. We will still do adult Rainbow Pants though, as they are proving to be quite popular!

I have limited stock of adult t-shirts left and we are selling them here now for only $15 each until they are all gone.

Hope you and yours are all well and happy. Me and mine are ticking along quite nicely!

Marijke

New Blog Address

Welcome to www.rainbowtribeclothing.blogspot.com !!! Hopefully you found us from our old site smoothly. No doubt there will be some bugs in the system that I have not yet thought to fix, but everything from the old site should be here.

We decided to change the name of the web address due to continued hesitation from people to purchase anything with the word dyke on it. So here you go - no dykes in sight. I should probably stop saying dyke now on the new site, eh!

We were at Gorman House Markets today and unfortunately it was a bit of a fizzer. Apparently another huge market was on elsewhere in town, thus reducing the traffic for us. Oh well...we will try again there next week.

I had a great birthday! Lots of loot :-)

Cheers
Marijke

Bags

Shoulder bag - 100% cotton, available in black with your choice of logo - Diversity Rocks, Dykes with Tykes, Rainbow Tribe, Love Child or Logo only. Buy a shoulder bag today for only $5!

Birthday Week

Not much to report this week, except that it is my birthday on Thursday. :-)

Christmas parties have started in earnest! We had a fabulous party today - we even hired a jumping castle for the kids instead of buying pressies. Gabby's dad spent the day with us too, which was great. Gabby is really starting to take to him - it is soooo cute!

I have added a few more products to the site today. Rainbow bibs, baby wraps and quite a few more kids t-shirts. Happy shopping!

Cheers
Marijke