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What’s new, and, well, natural from the Naturalkids Team on Etsy

Welcome! I continue my trek backwards through the alphabet to bring to you the most wonderful and imaginative treasures. They are all handmade with natural materials from…yes! the NaturalKids Team on Etsy! This week, we feature wonderful variety of artists who work in either wood or wool, bug and love working with sustainable, natural materials.

Friendly Skunk Toy

Woodmouse‘s Amber creates Eco-friendly wooden toys handmade from sustainably harvested USA poplar. All the wooden toys and figures in the shop are designed, cut, woodburned and sanded by her.  Her water-based paints have been independently third-party tested for safety. They are AP Certified non-toxic and bear the ACMI non-toxic label. Amber seals with organic jojoba oil and beeswax from a local beekeeper. Here is her Friendly Skunk Toy.

Wood Phone Toy

 The Wood Toy Shop  is run by Mark, a stay at home dad, who just installed new solar electric panels to power the workshop! His toys are built to last from hard woods and are finished with non-toxic mineral oil. Most of the wood he uses are mill ends and scrap from cabinet shops. Here is his Wood Phone Toy.

Sea Horse Wool Diaper Cover

Angela, of Wild Child Woolies  is a  stay at home/work at home/homeschooling (I guess she’s HOME a lot!) mom of 5 awesome kids. In her shop you’ll find unique, top quality, handmade wool interlock diaper covers for cloth diapered infants and toddlers. Here is her Seahorse Wool Interlock Pull Up Diaper Cover/Soaker.

Wet Felted Pocket Mirror

Kim of  Viltalakim crafts all of her household decor items, wearables and and other treasures, by the wet felting technique with super soft merino wool. She does this all by hand, without sewing/ knitting first. No washing machine, just her own hands… Here is her Wet Felted Pocket Mirror

From imaginative wood toys for storytelling and play to natural baby necessities to wet felted wool treasures, these are just a few of the natural creations you will find from our shops hailing from all over the world.

Thanks for joining us this week! Please do return again next Monday as we continue to feature all the wonderful members of the NaturalKids team on Etsy. Until then, I invite you to browse all our wonderful shops.

Warmly,
Rebecca aka Nushkie
Nushkie on Facebook
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Welcome! I continue my trek backwards through the alphabet to bring to you the most wonderful and imaginative treasures. They are all handmade with natural materials from…yes! the NaturalKids Team on Etsy! Once again, we are featuring a wonderful variety of artists who all work with natural materials and today, are all Waldorf-Inspired! All their shops start with an F…could that stand for open-ended “free play?? I think so! Enjoy!

 Fee Tartine  is the home of various styles of Waldorf-Inspired cloth dolls. Johanne, is from Canada. She is a Mother, midwife and craftswoman, who is “overwhelmingly busy but literaly addicted to sewing and knitting.” Her latest, the Punk-Dorf 15″ Waldorf Inspired Doll , is a simple but sturdy one-of-a-kind doll,  made from quality re-purposed materials.

Donni, the creative wonder behind Fairyfolk,  makes needle felted and silk treasures. She grew up in South Africa, where she had a lovely, natural childhood surrounded by animals and wilderness. She has lived in many different countries, Ireland, England, New Zealand and now, finally, America where she has settled at last. “I have a loving Kiwi husband and two gorgeous children. Crafting is how I reconnect with myself. It is the language of my soul. I came to needle felting only recently and have fallen in love with all of it… the sound of the needle in the wool, the smell of the wool, the feeling of my creation in my hands. I am so grateful for the wide range and color of the wool I can work with… it makes anything possible.”  Here is her latest Set of 8 Snow Felted Acorns. 

Free Trade Family  hails from Arizona, the shop offers a wide variety of cotton and wool play foods for your child’s play kitchen or market or for imaginative fun anytime, including fruits, vegetables, ethnic foods, and sweets.  Here is the latest…  Cotton Play Food – Chocolate Sandwhich Cookies.   

Those are the featured new items for this week– from lovely upcycled Waldorf dolls to wool decor and play acorns to cotton play food play…they are all from natural materials and from the hands of folks who love nature, children and open ended toys..this is just a small sample of the quality and variety our customers enjoy from the fine crafters and artists of the NaturalKids team.

Thanks for joining us this week and please do return again next Monday as we continue to feature all the wonderful members of the Naturakids team on Etsy! Til then, I invite you to browse all our wonderful shops.


Warmly,
Rebecca aka Nushkie
Nushkie on Facebook

 

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Friday Feature with Beary Organics

Tell us little about yourself!
I am a thirty something vegan mother of two wonderfully rowdy boys and a dog. Sometimes I mother my husband too, but he totally deserves it. I grew up in southern Mississippi, where my hometown is sadly now covered in tar balls and oil sheen. It was a lovely place to grow up; exploring marsh lands, bayous, and barrier islands. But… when the teens years hit, I couldn’t wait to leave. Alas, I got out and spent a couple of years drowning myself in college at the Maryland Institute College of Art. I was working hard towards that BFA in sculpture when I suddenly dropped out because I really just wanted to ride my bike. I worked and saved and pedaled some major miles in several different countries. Then it was off to Atlanta, where I met and fell in love with a small circus troupe who taught me everything they knew. Eventually the troupe fell apart and I fell in love again, this time with a cute tattooed boy whom I convinced to move to San Francisco, where I enrolled in circus school. I spent a year and a whole heap of dollars in that lovely city before getting sucked back to Atlanta. Then, I got married, had a baby, and made that baby an organic quilt. After my first one’s first birthday, we started looking at different cities. Portland, OR won the toss up and here we are, and I am finally “home.” I love this city. It’s got the good vegan food, the family friendly everything, bike trails galore, and is surrounded by nature nature nature. Baby #2 was born here and is a true pale skinned Oregonian. Our little family spends as much time as we can in the woods, rivers, and on mountains. I’d probably have more stuff listed on etsy if there weren’t so many dang waterfalls to find.

What do you make and how long have you been creating?
At this point in my life, I mostly make organic baby quilts. I do some wall-hanging quilts and clothes as well. I’ve been creating as long as I can remember, isn’t that how every artist/crafter is? There’s a picture of me, in a high chair, sleeping, with the outer crusts of a pb&j sandwich stood up in front of me. They are placed just so, my first sculpture.

What inspires you?
My children, Portland and all it’s grandness, and all that nature. Portland is a great city for artists, every business contributes a percentage to the arts. There are beautiful sculptures all over the place, as well as artists markets. The parks are amazing. The Willamette River and all the grand bridges, old and new, that bring it all together. The wildflowers, trees, and birds of the Northwest.

What got you started working with quilts?
When pregnant with my first child, I couldn’t find any organic quilts. Organic foods were really important to me, and when I got pregnant, I started thinking about how I wanted to expand to organic fabrics as much as we could. I couldn’t find one, not even on etsy, so I got a couple quilt books from the library, ordered some fabric, and did the best I could. I fell in love with the process, the textures, the way the cotton batting pulls everything in and shrinks and wrinkles the fabrics. It satisfied my love of 3D and 2D art all in one.

How long have you been on Etsy and how has it been for you so far?

I think I started in ’05, when my little one was still little. My first shop was under the name crustychristy, an insulting childhood nickname I had embraced and stuck with. I started BearyOrganics in ’09 because I wanted a more refined shop, image, name. I love being a part of the etsy family. It hasn’t been extremely lucrative for me yet, but I spend far more time outside and playing with my children than in my sewing dungeon. It is a creative outlet for me, that’s there when I have the time, and doesn’t get jealous of my life when I don’t. One day, maybe when the kids are in school, I’ll have more than one page’s worth of stuff, and the sales will roll in.

What advice would you have for other Etsians?
I am so not the person to give advice here. My aunt though (Artsy), she’s full of great ideas. She’s been on etsy forever and makes wonderful things, and a decent living. She always says, use all your tags, take great pictures, use all your pictures, re-list occasionally if you aren’t making new things, and network.

  What do you hope to learn/gain/contribute from being part of the Natural Kids group?
I love being part of a group of mostly parents and grandparents who care about their kids and this world enough to pass by the cheap plastic beeping toys, and make great things. The toys, clothes, bedding, furniture, etc. that NattyKids members make inspire children, and they do so in a sustainable way. Eventually, I’d like to learn more about running the business more efficiently, and pick at the brains of those in the team that do make a living at it. As for contributing, I must admit that I’ve mostly been a bug on the wall so far. If anything is asked of me, I try to provide in a timely fashion. I’m sure that in that magical ‘one day’ place, where all the time that I don’t seem to have exists, I’ll become more involved.

What thoughts do you have for parent
s on the importance of natural toys for creative play?

Natural toys are just so much more inspiring for children, not to mention safer. Natural Kids team members make quality non toxic products for children, as all products for children should be, but somehow aren’t. The closer the toy is to nature, the more they can just imagine themselves in the world, doing worldly things, or out of this world doing alien things. The possibilities are endless. Sticks, rocks, and dirt have always been the favorites around my house, but we also love blocks, books, and puppets. Kids imaginations are so fascinating and wonderful to watch at work. I guarantee the parents of children playing with natural wooden blocks is happier than the parent whose kid is playing with the sesame street tool bench that makes horrible noises all day long. Wouldn’t you rather listen to your child sing and talk out scenes while playing with toys, than those crazy recorded hi-pitched machine voices? Of course you would.

All you links:

Interview by Beccijo of The Enchanted Cupboard