Hall of Fame {Kitty Baby Love}

Hello everyone! You're in for a real treat today. For the first time, I'm not interviewing an individual, but a talented couple who work together on their craft. I'm so excited to introduce them to you!

Meet Sara and Ben, the work-at-home parents and fellow cat-lovers behind Kitty Baby Love. They have a beautiful son, Mikah, born in May of this year. Their business is a family effort and their wish is "to pass good spirits from our home into yours with something made with love and care."

Read on to discover how Kitty Baby Love came about, their inspiration, a look at their products, and just who is Lulu, Vasia, and Blaquan.


Tell us a little about yourselves.
We are a crafty family with 3 cats. We love self-sustainability from growing your own garden to buying handmade, and making your own music. Creativity inspires our lives. With the addition of our new family member, a baby boy, creativity has reached new heights that inspire our engagement with him as he grows and develops.
We both met each other in San Francisco, where we finished art school and had our son at a home water birth. We recently moved to Portland, Oregon where we hope to continue to build our business and raise our new family.
What inspires you?
We are both inspired by the innate spirit of creating. We love the feeling of being in a 'flow' or getting lost in a body of work we embark on- whether that be Kitty Baby Love stuff, or side hobbies such as making music, drawing, and painting. We want to be examples for our son to show that with determination and hard work, one can achieve carving their own path in life to follow and that he doesn't necessarily have to follow a predetermined path. Some specific inspirations include,
Ben: Francis Bacon, Van Gogh, dub reggae music, his 10 year old cat Lulu (who he has had since she was a kitten), Sara, Mikah, Portland, and being around people who are filled with love
Sara: Bjork, Kiki Smith, hand-crafted textiles, weaving, Ben & Mikah, percussion (such as Taiko), nature, and natural processes
Where do you call home? Are you from there originally?
Our home is in Portland, Oregon. We are originally from Hawaii and San Diego, respectively. Having our own son especially releases us from the ties of our original homes so that we can truly call Portland our home.

Name something unique to where you live.
There is a calm and somewhat retro feeling to Portland that gives it a lot of character. The people here are generally friendlier than other cities we have lived, there is a huge support of buying local, and plenty of trees (which we missed while living in San Francisco!). Also there is no sales tax and it is illegal to pump your own gas!
Share an interesting fact about yourselves.
Ben: I have traveled to hundreds of major cities in over 21 different countries (including Brazil, Japan, England, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru) but am really glad to finally be settled down in Portland, my favorite place out of everywhere I have been.
Sara: Even though I have a form of dyslexia with numbers called dyscalculia, I remain in charge of both our finances!
If you had to describe yourself in a word, what would that word be?
Sara: Independent
Ben: Unpredictable

What made you decide to open up shop?
Financial desperation! We were both recently graduated from Art school, had no luck in finding a job, and were expecting our first baby. We decided to make our own fortune instead of waiting for it to happen for us, and so Kitty Baby Love was born.
How did you come up with the name Kitty Baby Love? Any special significance?
We were brainstorming one night and were thinking about what we loved most in the world, which were our cats and this new baby who was about to be born. Thus Kitty Baby Love was most apropos.

Name your favorite thing about selling handmade.
Sara: I love how much more intimate the interaction between customer and business can be. Hearing stories and feedback from our customers always brightens my day.
Ben: The fact that I play a major part in turning something raw into a finished product. Being able to offer that to the world is very rewarding.
Do you have a day job or sell on Etsy full-time?
We are currently working on Kitty Baby Love full-time. Unfortunately we are not selling enough on etsy to make ends meet so we have expanded to selling on our own website as well as wholesale and doing local craft shows. Sometimes we sell random house things on eBay or Amazon.com, but have no other "real" job.

Give us a little glimpse into what a typical day in your life looks like.
Morning Time is rough for us. Mikah or the cats usually wake us up around 7am and we deal with house and family things like feeding everyone, showering, and just organizing our thoughts!

Afternoons we spend cleaning the house, taking care of Mikah, and running errands like going to the Post Office or picking up supplies. If we don't have errands to run we will still try to get out of the house and go to our local coffee shop or park to hang out for a couple of hours. This time is also sometimes used for Ben to work on making Kitty Baby Love stuff while Sara & Mikah breastfeed and nap.

Evening time is focused on dinner and laying Mikah down to bed. Sometimes this can be an involved process- we nicknamed sundown "fussy time" for Mikah as he sometimes has a hard time falling asleep. Once he does sleep however, he is down for the night.

Night time is business hours for us. We spend the majority of our time organizing and creating for our business between the hours of 9pm-4am. It is the only time we have to focus on a task without needing to be focused on Mikah.
List a few of your most favorite pastimes.
Ben: playing guitar and other instruments, walking through the neighborhood, petting stray cats, spending time with Sara & Mikah, working on building a home recording studio, meditating, reading (when there is an opportunity to do so)
Sara: looking at beautiful images from blogs or magazines, playing taiko drums (I took classes with SF Taiko Dojo for 3 years but have since quit due to having a baby and moving), origami, breastfeeding, finding reading material
Need I ask what your favorite animal is? Do you have any cats of your own?
We have 3 cats. When we first met, Ben had 2 cats and Sara had 1 cat.
Lulu is the oldest cat who Ben has cared for 10 years. She is very extroverted and spends a lot of time sunbathing and cleaning herself. Ben absolutely adores her.
Vasia is a beautiful 6 year old creamy white cat with blue eyes. She is the most difficult and often spends her time being mischievous (like dropping socks into the toilet or chewing on bits of string). We sometimes spend just as much time catching her in the act of something and running after her as we pay attention to Mikah!
Blaquan is the baby of the bunch and is an all black 4 year old princess. She is very skittish and spends most of her time hiding under couches. When she feels safe, she spends a lot of time begging for human affection and meowing around the house like she lost something (meow? meow?).
Read any good books lately?
Ben: Elizabeth I, CEO: Strategic Lessons from the Leader Who Built an Empire by Alan Axelrod
Sara: The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff

What is your most prized possession?
Ben: I don't know
Sara: a box of letters from old friends, acquaintances, my mom, and some even from Ben
What are three of your favorite foods?
We both love sushi, and our personal all-time favorites are lasagna (Ben), and chocolate cake (Sara).

What would you like to learn to do?
Ben: Play the drums
Sara: the art of Parkour

What are you listening to right now?
Ben: the album East of the River Nile by Augustus Pablo
Sara: the Vespertine album by Bjork
Name one place you must visit in your lifetime and why.
Ben: India; because there is so much rich spiritual history that I am inspired by and would like to experience there.
Sara: Iceland; the landscape in Iceland seems beautiful, unique, and most important, mostly untouched. I love nature but want to experience something more unique than the typical picturesque Hawaii sunset.


Thank you so much, Ben and Sara, for sharing with us. You are an inspiration not only in the handmade community, but to all!

It was really hard to choose just a few of Sara and Ben's product photos, so please stop by their flickr to peruse more of their work and amazing photos.

Don't forget to visit Kitty Baby Love's official website to sign up for their e-Newsletter so you can stay up-to-date on new products! Stop by their blog for other inspiring posts. You can also follow them on twitter here.

Time for a giveaway!
{and another special something!}

Sara and Ben will give a 6-pack kitty egg crayon set in custom colors to 1 winner! How cool is that?!

All you have to do is leave a comment telling us what colors you would choose if you win! That's SIX colors! Be sure to include your name and email address or Etsy username

They are also generously offering an exclusive offer to The Sunshine Studio blog readers! Receive a 20% discount if you mention 'sunshinestudio blog' at checkout in 'notes to seller' at their etsy shop.

For extra entries you can:
Tweet this giveaway: 2 additional entries
Follow my blog and/or KBL's blog : 5 additional entries
Blog about this interview/contest: 7 additional entries
Purchase from Kitty Baby Love : 10 additional entries

(Please include this info, if applicable, with your comment for additional entries. You do not need to leave separate comments for additional entries. Important: Don't forget to include your name and contact info!)

Contest ends Sunday, August 30th at 11:59 pm EST. Winner will be chosen by traditional drawing and will be announced Monday, August 31st.