natural toys – NaturalKids Team

Posted on June 21, 2013

A Weekend At Baker Creek

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company pretty much does just one thing – selling traditional heirloom seeds to a worldwide customer base. The seeds are not genetically modified and are not modern hybrid varieties. Instead, they are traditional seeds, passed down from generations of farmers: they’re the kinds of seeds you’d have traded with your neighbors for in less modern times. Because of that singular focus, they are able to take a strong stance against genetically-engineered food. The best way to make a difference is often through consistent, quiet work with an outstanding commitment to quality.

In the fifteen years since the seed store was founded, they have grown to offer almost 1500 varieties of vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Their website can be found at rareseeds.com.

Pioneer Village

Baker Creek is replete with a Pioneer Village. There we found many interesting shops to visit; a seed store filled with heirloom seeds, gardening books and locally made items (the soaps smelled amazing.) There is also a mercantile and an herbal apothecary. And the freshly baked cinnamon buns at the natural bakery were, by far, the best we’ve ever tasted. The Asian restaurant generously serves free tea and vegetarian lunches. At the outskirts of the village there are different animals to see including historic breeds of poultry. Our boys watched in fascination as the peacocks showed off their colorful feathers.

Heritage Festivals

The first Sunday of each month, they host Heritage Days Festivals. And the first Sunday and Monday in May is the biggest festival, the Spring Planting Festival. The festival was complete with world-renowned speakers, old-time musicians, and over 40 artisans creating hand-made goods.

Born At Home Toys was there, too. The Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri are the perfect backdrop to sell earth-friendly, natural toys.

This is our favorite of festivals, both to attend and at which to be a vendor.

There is also a kids’ tent with face painting, live music, and other activities. Our boys spent many fun-filled hours in the gigantic mound of play sand.

Nearby

In nearby Mansfield is the Laura Ingalls Wilder Home and Museum. If you’ve ever read the Little House books or watched “Little House on the Prairie”, you might recognize the name. This is where Laura and her husband, Almanzo, spent most of their life and where the Little House books were written. We didn’t have time to go because we were busy selling toys, but hear it’s a fascinating place. More can be found at their website: LauraIngallsWilderHome.com.

Posted on June 12, 2013 August 9, 2017

Introduction to Outside Everywhere

We’re still fairly new members here in the Natural Kids Team, so I thought I would start off with a little introduction to our family and our shop.

I’m Allison – the designer and one of the makers here at Outside Everywhere. Daniel, my partner, is the wood-cutter and sander. Our nearly 7 year old son, Eden, gives us ideas for toys to make, and sometimes he helps paint toys as well.

Our home is in Asheville, North Carolina. We feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place surrounded by absolutely breath-taking mountain views in every direction. I stay home with Eden,and this year we’ve begun homeschooling. We’re having a great time figuring it all out. Daniel works during the days at a local natural foods store. In the afternoons, we are most often found in our backyard outside of our home studio. We spread out blankets, have picnics, sand toys, and take breaks to play with our dogs.

We consider our pets members of our family, so I just had to include them here…and plus, they’re really cute!
We have 3 dogs: Mason, India, and Gemma. We also have 2 cats, Beatrix and Poki.

Here are a few fun little things about us:
I love: cats (I’ve been obsessed since age 5), succulents, and I collect vintage pyrex dishes.
I do not love: onions, snakes with triangle heads, hot hot weather.

Eden loves: cats (he is his mama’s son, for sure!), bird-watching, and nature hikes.
Eden does not love: getting water up his nose, growling dogs, and brushing his hair.

Daniel loves: Harry Potter, reading books about religion, and birds.
Daniel does not love: being cold, impatient drivers, and cheap beer.

For the past few years we have been very fortunate to have an opportunity to take a vacation at the coast with my best friends. We all live so spread apart (Portland, Oregon; Columbus, Ohio; Charleston, South Carolina; and us here in Asheville, NC) that this trip is often the one time a year that we get to see each other. It’s so, so wonderful to be able to be with my closest friends and their families for an entire week. This year I got to meet the new daughter of one of my friends, as well as see another friend’s daughter I haven’t seen since she was 6 months old.

In thinking about our upcoming trip, we were inspired to make a few beach-related animals.

This great white shark is one of them:

We spent our vacation in Folly Beach, which is a turtle nesting site. Here’s our sweet little turtle:

And how could we resist making an animal as adorable as the manatee:

We came home with some new toy ideas -they will be in our shop soon!

You can find our shop, Outside Everywhere here
You can keep up-to-date on our shop stuff on our facebook page here
And here is our very new, still in progress blog here

Posted on June 3, 2013 August 9, 2017

Meet Rebecca of Little River Dolls

Hi Natural kids blog readers! My name is Rebecca and I am owner/creator of Little River Dolls! I love making natural soft wool filled dolls for my son and his friends and my shop! It is so pleasurable to see the wee dolls come to life in my hands and each has such unique personalities that are easy to see. I love making them so much and I hope you can feel the love I have put into each and every one!

Recently I have been trying to find the perfect teacher gift for my son’s wonderful teachers at his Waldorf Kindergarten. At first I knitted a couple pairs of socks but then I felt that wasn’t personal enough for his main teacher so I found a pattern for a wonderful doll- but all made of wool and needle felted! I have needle felted a couple small things before for presents like hearts and pumpkins but never such a large one! But it came out just perfect, soft and warm and Waldorf-y, it will hopefully bring a smile to her! What kind of presents are you giving your teachers this year?

Posted on May 30, 2013

Recycling & Upcycling the Kenyan Way

After Jess’ account earlier this week of thrifting the American way, here’s a brief update on the Kenyan way.

Living in Kenya provides a whole different perspective on the consumption society. Recycling and reinvention of items are the matter of the day especially since new goods are generally very expensive.

The solution for the average person here is to shop for used goods. From toys, to shoes, to furniture, clothing, etc., basically everything you can find in a thrift shop in the Western World. It is that world where most of the items here come from. Kenya is among the largest recipients of used goods, especially clothing and cars. I am sure that we all have seen containers placed in certain parts of large cities in Europe and the USA inviting us to throw in our unwanted clothes, shoes and even other items. Most of what we would throw into these containers finds its way to Africa – and most often to Kenya. The charities, who collect clothes in the containers sell the goods (=funds raised for the charity) to an intermediary, who then sorts and sells the goods to vendors here in East Africa. The goods are packed in large bundles, which then find their way to the Mitumba (which literally translates into Bundle) markets across Kenya. At a Mitumba market, the average person can pick up a nice outfit for a decent price. Depending on the quality of the item, you can get a shirt for 10 Kenyan Shillings (US$ 0,11), or spend as much as 1000 Kenyan Shillings (US$ 11). The latter items would be rather upmarket and brands of high recognition.

Impressions of Toi Market - A Mitumba Market in Nairobi — Impressions of Toi Market – A Mitumba Market in Nairobi

As a crafter the Mitumba market is ideal place for me to find nice fabrics and materials to upcycle and use in my creations. For those who know my Etsy shop, you can immediately find a combination of traditional East African materials with upcycled materials. The yoga mat carriers as well as the pencil rolls are a perfect example. My personal love for jeans as well as colourful kikoy is reflected in those items.

The ziezo Designs bunting baby dolls were born on the Mitumba Market by seeing a pile of wonderful wool jumpers, some felted, others not. The felted wool was the perfect material to make lovely soft baby dolls children across the world would enjoy.

On my most recent trip to the market I picked up some lovely flower fabrics in the form of a skirt, some pillow cases and a dress. I have plans to create a fabric bunting with these great fabrics, a different take on my traditional bandanna buntings like these:

Keep your eyes on the ziezo Etsy shop! Soon there will be more upcycled products made with the donations that started in the Western world, which were then commercially passed on to those shopping at the Mitumba markets. It might actually be made out of something that you donated!

Interested in learning a little more about living in Kenya? Visit my personal blog “ziezo – Crafting and Living in Kenya“

Posted on May 28, 2013 August 9, 2017

New Designs for Spring by broodbaby

With the Arrival of Spring, New Designs Break Ground

When I first met my husband we quickly made scavenging the local flea markets a favorite past time. He’d routinely select some item from a vendor’s cache and ask me what I saw. I’d respond shoe form, wrench, or whatever else the item happened to be. “No,” he’d say. “That’s what it is. I want to know what it could be.” Such a simple statement that became the cornerstone of my point of view in all my ensuing design challenges.

We live a pretty earth friendly life. My husband spends a good part of the year chopping the wood we use to heat our home through the New England winters. I manage the kitchen; cooking and baking our breads, snacks, meals with an emphatic keeping to organic and local ingredients. We know our farmers. We are fanatic recyclers. We drive a hybrid. So, it should come as no surprise that when I started my fiber and textile business my materials would continue in the vein in which we live our life. The fabrics and yarn I work with are all organic, natural, fair trade, recycled, and/or re-purposed. With a steady eye on quality of both my designs and my materials, my constant challenge is to eek out the best of possibilities from my cottons or woolens. What shape will my collected treasures take next in their recycled evolution?

Quite honestly, I can’t even recall how I first started working with sweaters, but somehow I started collecting beautiful wool, cashmere, fair isle, aran—exquisite sweaters that for some reason or another were being discarded. Sifting through thrift shops and rummage sales became a favorite activity. And my husband’s first questions that he posed during our courtship became a constant echo. What’s next? What’s next? And then one day designs started falling from mind’s eye to my pencil and paper to my cutting table. Cashmere bunnies, and fair isle elephants all started to take shape. Pigs and starfish and puppy dogs began to fill the studio. My little gallery now hosts a community of little friends to join the community of our littlest treasures: our kids.

This incredibly soft Cashmere Bunny satisfies her sweet tooth with Cupcakes, which are also made with bits and pieces of recycled sweaters.

A gentle elephant springs to life with cheery thanks to a wool fair isle sweater.

Everything starts with the washing and felting of the sweaters and very frequently some design detail in them–be it a placket or a seam–will inspire the Sweet Critter that it will become.

Jess Wrobel: A lifelong creative type, my studio is filled with an enormity of wonders from the fiber world from which I create my knitwear and pattern designs and textile art pieces. With my husband as my cohort, we reclaim, repurpose, and salvage old pieces into new functional home decor and furniture works. I teach, and write, and enjoy meeting everyone in person at artisan shows. Please visit www.Jwrobel.com <http://www.Jwrobel.com> or follow me on www.facebook.com/JwrobelStudio <http://www.facebook.com/JwrobelStudio> to learn more.

Posted on April 28, 2013 August 9, 2017

Hello, this is me, Nalina

Hello!

I’m Pia from Nalina Puppen. We haven’t met yet – not officially at least. So, hello. It’s really nice to meet you. As this is our first time together, I thought I might share a little about Nalina, and I hope that you’ll connect with me, through comments or social media.

Pia and little presents for customers

Nalina was born in 2008, when I was studying to be a Waldorf teacher. I started crafting little fairies and gnomes just because I enjoyed the handwork. Doing crafts back then wasn’t so popular as it is now. Knitting and crocheting were considered uncool, but for some reason people wanted to buy my little things. I didn’t understand why people would want to buy them, but I was happy they did. Looking back now, I still don’t understand it. Stitching was all off, products weren’t very unique, but they were made with lots of love. I guess that did it back then. In the years that followed I learned to make Waldorf dolls from my art and crafts teacher at Waldorf seminar, Ms. Thiesen. Watching her paint, draw, and create beautiful crafts with such precision and love was like a pinch of fairy dust to my life. To this day, every time I sit down to create a doll, gnome, fairy… I think of her.

Doll maker in making – from the first doll to the real Nalina Puppen doll

This memory helped me go through four years of trial and errors in pursuit of a perfect Nalina Puppen doll. Last year when I create my first doll that could properly sit my world stopped for just a minute. Long enough to know that was it. I came from someone who learned how to make a Waldorf doll to a doll maker – a proper one. I started believing in my work, and my dolls. And getting feedback from happy customers was like a happy pill for my heart.

Nalina Puppen dolls

Though I can make every doll myself I enjoy that this is actually something I often do with my husband. In our crazy computer infested world (he works as senior developer and I as freelance web designer) we take time to be with each other, to talk, watch movies, and ground ourselves, crafting dolls. We were together at seminar for Waldorf teachers, and we are together after all those years, working and learning how to live simple natural life. If you want to know about my creative process as a crafter click here to read the post about it.

Nalina Puppen boys

In search of that life we are moving to Germany in a month, hoping to settle, have a family, and enjoy living. We make a very limited number of dolls per month, making sure each is really well made and infused with all the love our family can hold. We are happy to see them finding new homes all over the world, and In our little country.

Nalina Puppen gnomes

If you want to know more about our stumbling as expats please find me at Joie de vie blog.

Until next time, have fun!

Pia

Nalina Puppen on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/nalinapuppen)

Pinterest | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Links to put on the social medial names:

Posted on April 18, 2013 August 9, 2017

Meet Rebecca of Handmaiden Canada

Let me introduce myself…

My name is Rebecca, and I live with my husband and 9 children in the “back woods” of Eastern Canada. I grew up here, and I love it. I love that I can sit out on my back porch in the early morning and hear silence. I love that I can walk down the road to a sparkling, clean lake to swim. I love the drama of the seasons.

My father and mother instilled in me a deep love for all things handmade. My dad was a Luthier. He built gorgeous one of a kind guitars. My mom was the type of “self- sufficient” woman who would make her own granola, hand-smock each one of us dresses for Easter, always had a knitting project on the go, and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty in the garden. She had me sewing my first outfit when I was six years old. I’ll never forget it. So many seams sewn and then ripped out….and then sewn again. Did I mention she had the patience of a saint!? Creativity was always encouraged in our home. It was a very “organic” process. We had trunks of fabric scraps, yarn and craft supplies always at our disposal and we were encouraged to just “try stuff”. My mother would teach us the skills necessary, and then give us free reign to design and create. Of course she LOVED every single project even more than the last! A woman can always use another pot holder, right?

What inspired me to start my shop Handmaiden Canada? After six months of my husband being off work with ulcerative colitis and awaiting imminent surgery, I started to rack my brain, trying to think of a way I could make some sort of an income from the home. I have been a stay at home mom for the past 18 years, and though I’m so grateful I’ve had the opportunity to be home with my children during these tender years, I do feel I am a little behind, with very little outside work experience under my belt. I decided to start a business from the home. This was something I could do, even with a nursing baby. I opened a shop and called it Handmaiden Canada.

Now, what to sell? I started to experiment. I started knitting wool bags and then felting them. I then started making things with recycled, felted sweaters and that was a lot of fun. Then I discovered Waldorf Dolls, and I fell in love. I have always loved dolls. I watched the way my mom was with my seven younger siblings, and I would imitate her. I would nurse my baby, change her, and carry her around on my hip, just like my mom did with my baby brothers and sisters. Dolls were my first introduction to motherhood, and they still hold a special place in my heart. But there is something about the simple face, the softness and warmth, the natural materials of a Waldorf doll that sets them apart from any other type of doll. Something that makes you just want to snuggle up with them and tell them all your secrets.

I had to try my hand at making one. I made one for my daughter for her first birthday, and what a hit that was! Before too long, I was blissfully caught up in a whirlwind of dolly making creativity! I was kept up many a night with visions of my next dolly dancing through my head! It is a process that I don’t think I could ever tire of. I have now “joined forces” so to speak with my mother. She makes a lot of the doll clothing, and many of the other items in the shop. We get together often, to work on projects, to keep each other motivated and inspired! It is so amazing to be able to collaborate with her in this way.

My husband and children are also involved in the business. My husband helps me with the shipping. My children (ages 19 down to 3), are my muses, and my helpers. They humour me by modelling things in the shop. Sometimes it is with a promise of a trip to the little candy store, or ice cream shop in town afterwards!

It truly is a JOY to be able to work from the home, to use my creative abilities to help provide for our family. I do have to do part-time work outside the home…but I look forward to seeing this handmade business of ours continue to bloom and grow.

Find these dolls at:

HandMaidenCanada on ETSY

FACEBOOK

Posted on April 11, 2013 August 9, 2017

A Pony for Sara

We have a new pony! It’s a long story how I found him, but this pony needed a new home. I didn’t know how badly, until he got here. His hooves have possibly never been trimmed (our horses get their hooves trimmed every 2 months). Underweight, although not drastic. Still a stallion (never neutered). Shedding in weird patches.But the biggest thing wrong: Terrified. Scared to death. Literally shakes all over. Runs away. Cannot catch him. Abused.

This is Winslow, day one.

So, got his hooves trimmed. My blacksmith was so kind and patient. Spent a week working with him everyday, several times a day. Very hard to catch him. Usually takes two people – have to corner him. Left his lead line on him, so when you get close can either grab or stand on the lead line. Once caught, his terror is blatant.

Then he got gelded (neutered). This is major surgery. The vet was awesome. My friend Elaine, who came to lend moral support, fainted in the stall. 🙂

This is Winslow, no longer a stallion. Very wary of me. Now he must be exercised twice a day, to help his incision heal. At first I thought, how will this ever work? But, bit by bit, he got a tiny bit easier to catch. And lead. It was a great day, when he would trust me enough to put his head down and eat grass (instead of watching me constantly in fear). The bonding and trust between us has grown. I bring sweet feed with me to his stall, and he will usually come to me, although not always – sometimes it is as if his fear was never even slightly abated. I exercise him every day. We go on walks. I’m teaching him that it is ok for him to be brushed, and washed with a hose. I now have him in a stall next to my “big” horses, and Belle (my mustang mare) has fallen in love with Winslow.
He’s still scared, but not as bad., usually.

He is so adorable, and so sweet. Not an aggressive bone in his little body; just wants love. I try to imagine a day when his fear is gone.

My love of horses began for me at age 2. It gives me such pleasure to knit little horses. I call them Earth Ponies, and you can request them in practically any color of the rainbow.

Earth Ponies at Woolies on Etsy!

Thank you for reading about me and Winslow!

Woolies Shop
Buster N Boo Shop
FACEBOOK
BLOG

Posted on April 1, 2013

~ It’s time for a new spring/summer wardrobe !!!

I don’t know if you are like me, but every time spring is near I’m anxious to go to my wardrobe and start wearing my little dress and skirt again ! Not to mention that I love to go shopping for a couple of new sets…I don’t know why but it’s not the same for fall…do you feel the same !? Spring is really a ”blooming” season, you want everything to look fresh, clean…all new !! Also it’s that time of the year we, as parents, need to find new clothes for our children…omg they grow so fast ! I think my daughter gained 2 inches more this winter !?? She is going to turn 12 soon, and shopping for her is now a bit of a headhache. She’s not an adult yet, but children’s clothing don’t fit her anymore…boy oh boy..I have to be really creative to find something decent for her ah!ah!

Sometimes I kind of miss the time when she was younger, to dress her up in little colored shorts and skirt sets, with bows and frills…you know what I mean !? I used to work as a fashion designer for children and I’ve always loved clothing…to mix and match them and not to mention to design them. I just loOoove designing clothes…sketching, drawing… it’s another passion of mine!

I’m now the creator behind FeeVertelaine, handmade natural toys and dolls. Lately I did offer myself a treat ! I started a project that I’ve been dreaming about for many years now…Creating my own paper doll !! As a little girl, paper dolls were one of my ABSOLUTE favorite things to play with! So I took my pencil away from the cobwebs, and started to draw Emilÿ…it so reminded me of my time in fashion school. I also loOove watercolor, so I told myself why not do the coloring this way…so I did ! Every little step of the creation of this project was a pure delight for me.

After many months of sketching, coloring, editing…she finally came to life. This was pure joy for my daughter, who was my assigned tester 😉 She and her friend had such a great time playing.. humm sorry testing…all the new spring/summer wardrobe that Emilÿ comes with. It was so sweet to watch them mixing and matching everything together…4 hands on one doll is a true test !! So I knew she was ready for the world to meet her !

My heart is filled with excitment to introduce her to you today…Emilÿ my first paper doll…all ready for spring with her new wardrobe !! Enjoy !!!

You can find her here in my Etsy shop.

This lavender dress reminds me of a dress that I sewed recently for one of my winter fairy dolls…a last glimpse of winter just before spring shows up at our door !

If you wish to see and read more about my creative process, I invite you to visit my Facebook page where I add pictures of my everyday work and things I cherish…. I will soon offer Emilÿ as a giveaway…keep an eye open !!

Happy spring !!

Warm regards,

~Julie xo

Posted on March 26, 2013

MamaWestWind, Stories…

Once there was and once there was not, a magical meadow on the edge of an enchanted forest. The forest was home to many magical beings. MamaWestWind knew them all…

I fell in love with story when I was little. As a child I loved nothing better than to lay outside under my favorite horse chestnut tree, feel the cool breeze on my skin, smell that green earthy smell of the grass, wildflowers & trees and be carried away by a book. In my books I could travel to distant times and places all over the world.

When I became a Mom I really wanted to impart my love of story to my children. One of the books that has captured our hearts is “Old Mother West Wind” by Thornton Burgess. My boys and I really love the creative way in which the forces of nature are personified. There is Old Mother West Wind who is the wind, her children the Merry Little Breezes, Old Dame Nature, Old Mother Moon and many others.

So when I began making peg dolls for my three year old son and couldn’t stop, I knew an etsy shop had been born. I didn’t have to look very far for the name of my shop, MamaWestWind. I loved the idea that “Old Mother West Wind” being the wind, the very air around us, would know every creature in the forest. She would know the animals, the gnomes, fairies & all. My littles call me “Mama” & so MamaWestWind became my alter ego, my friend, my creative outlet & so began her story.

Since that time my little shop has grown and I am so ecstatic to be doing what I love. I get the privilege of creating little playthings, friends. that children then take into their worlds and imagine the most wonderful stories. And so the circle is complete.

(picture by a happy customer & photographer Jacqueline Leigh)

Please visit me at my blog, Chocolate Eyes where I blog about crafting, homeschooling, gardening , just life with three boys in the sunny Southwest. I recently wrote a post about my brand new studio, so come for a tour! Also check out my shop MamaWestWind on etsy. For shop updates and giveaways “like” my MamaWestWind Facebook page.