Author: Tickety Bu

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Geocaching—Learning and Exploring All in One

This year has brought a lot of change to our family and a lot of adventures. The biggest one has been homeschooling full time and trying to incorporate learning into every aspect of our lives. I search out activities and things to do that pack a punch—things that do multiple things at once. If we are going to spend time doing something, it better be fun, teach everyone something new, and spread our horizons a bit. A good friend and fellow homeschooler introduced us to one such activity, Geocaching. It’s a fabulous combination of hiking, treasure hunting, and tripolism (mapreading), and it’s tons of fun for everyone!

It's great for the whole family!

Geocaching is a hunt for hidden items all around you. People hide caches of all kinds and sizes and enter the coordinates and hints to find it on the Geocaching website. Enter the coordinates in your GPS, follow the trail and off you go. Some caches are urban and easy to get to and some are very remote and require good hiking, climbing and bushwacking skills. Some are placed in easy to find locations and some are so hard to find you have to decode hints to help you. There is truly something for everyone. And, all the caches are rated on a 1-5 star system so you can chose caches that fit the skills of whomever is hunting.

Even the 2 year old is learning to read the GPS.

Some caches are small, tiny little pill and film boxes. Some are big, the size of a hat box. Some just have a log for you to add your name to and some have items inside to trade, making it a true treasure hunt. My kids love to leave items and pick out a little treasure of their own.

What treasure have we found?
Putting some items in for the next explorer.

Learning to read a map, all about coordinates and how to use a GPS has been very educational for my kids. We talk a lot about direction when on our adventures, and the kids have learned how to navigate as well as how to estimate the time of day based on the sun’s position in the sky. We’ve learned a lot about our area, collecting leaves and other bits of nature along our journey. The biggest surprise about Geocaching has been how much we didn’t know about the areas right around us. We’ve found lakes, hiking trails, natural preserves and other hidden treasures that have connected us to living here in ways we didn’t expect and would have never experienced otherwise. Not to mention we have gotten lots of exercise in the process, not a bad additional benefit!

We never would have discovered this gem if not for Geocaching.

We Geocache anytime. It’s great for a little diversion when you are out and about running errands and it makes for an equally fun entire afternoon. So, next time you are wanting something fun, educational and healthy to do as a family, consider Geocaching, you’ll be amazed at what you might find!

 

Kristi Ashley is a homeschooling mom of three who spends time in the garden or hiking nearby her Hudson Valley, New York home. She is an amateur photographer, scrapbooker and avid reader. Find her work and blog at Tickety Bu.

 

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One Family’s Primal Journey

People often give my funny looks when they find out I don’t eat grains of any kind. I get even funnier looks when they find out that I eat three meals a day without any snacking. But it’s true and I feel more healthy and energetic than ever before at the ripe young age of 40.

What does it mean to eat primal? Basically, if you could hunt or gather it back in paleolithic times, it’s ok to eat. Some joke that you just need to eat like grok. But the premise is to eat as our ancestors did and thereby avoid a lot of the modern day toxins that are present in our food sources.

The biggest difference from mainstream diets is that I don’t eat any grains. And I mean any grains, including wheat, barley, rye, rice, corn and quinoa. Legumes are also not eaten and that includes all beans, peanuts and soy. Since we are primal in our home we do eat dairy and the occasional starchy tuber like sweet potatoes. And the big no-no for most people….  no processed foods.

Now, you may think that after cutting all of that out of my diet that I am left with nothing to eat. On the contrary! My menus have never been tastier. I enjoy all cuts of meat and make sure they are grass fed. The nutritional benefits of grass fed are significant and if you buy locally, the price is normally reasonable. I eat most any vegetables, typically buying locally and what is in season. By doing that I can support local farmers and find I don’t get bored with our food. In our home we eat a lot of fruit too, with small kids fresh fruit is a nice treat to have in place of sugar or other processed foods. And like I mentioned, I eat dairy, lots of grass fed butter, cream, cheeses, raw milk and kefir.

My journey to primal eating has been a typical one. I got really tired of my afternoon sluggishness, the extra pounds I was carrying around my middle, and my poor quality of sleep. I was eating a typical American diet full of whole grains, lean meats and cheeses, fruit and some vegetables. I didn’t eat great, but didn’t consider it to be all that bad either.

I didn’t realize I could be doing so much more for my health and the health of my family. I will admit, it seemed far fetched when I was first introduced to the primal lifestyle by a friend. But, given the way I was feeling and my desire to lose some weight, get fit and stay that way, I didn’t have anything to lose.

The first thing I did was to cut grains out of my diet completely, cold turkey. I’m an all or nothing kind of gal so that was the best tact to take. I estimate that one change cut around 200-300 carbs from my daily macronutrients. I started eating fat again. I had forgotten how wonderful food tastes when cooked in butter! I then cut out sugar. I tend to like a sweet treat on a regular basis, but my palate changed so much after cutting grains out that the typical sweet treat became too sweet to enjoy. Now a square of 85% dark cacao does the trick, but I rarely crave anything sweet anymore.

Those changes were the backbone of my primal beginnings. It didn’t take long before the whole family was primal and no one has regretted it. We are more active, healthier and we feel better with this lifestyle. Overall, it’s been the right choice for our family. Financially it hasn’t made a difference. Yes, our meats are slightly more expensive, but that is offset by the fact that we don’t buy anything in the center of the grocery store. All the savings from cereals, crackers, cookies, and any other processed foods cover the increased costs of meats and produce easily. The family also cooks more together. It’s created a common interest in us and we have really enjoyed discovering new foods and recipes to try together. Every weekend we make almond flour pancakes together and that ritual has become a family favorite.

For me personally, I’ll never eat any other way again. In the first year of being primal I lost 20 pounds with no exercise, dropped 40 points of cholesterol and began sleeping better than I ever have in my life. My seasonal allergies are gone and I’ve always suffered every spring and fall. My energy levels are constant through the day and are always high. My joints feel better, I just don’t have the typical aches and pains anymore (that’s due to less inflammation caused by grains). And, it’s gotten my family outdoors and more active than ever. Swimming, hiking and walking are all daily activities now rather than just weekly. And like I mentioned before, it’s brought us closer together and forged common interests between us that will be there our entire lives. It’s why I call this our primal journey, because it will never end it will just continue evolving and sustaining us through many, many years to come.

Interested in learning more about primal eating and living? Check out Mark’s Daily Apple or google “primal eating” or “paleo eating” to read more.

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Nobby Organics Interview and Giveaway

Comments on this giveaway are now closed.

This week we take a closer look at Nobby Organics with owner and artist Daria.

Tell us about you!
My name is Daria. I live with my husband and five children in a small town in Westchester County, NY. My days are filled with part-time teaching Russian language at a parochial school, homeschooling, sewing, designing, reading, traveling, visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art, listening to my children play the piano, and enjoying the changing seasons in our backyard. I was born in Moscow, Russia and moved to the U.S. with my husband 18 years ago. Born into an artistic family, I learned to love and cherish the creative process from a very young age. My grandmother taught me how to sew and crochet when I was little, so I started making dolls and toys for myself and my brother and, later, for my own children, and I literally couldn’t stop. Our house is filled with fabrics, yarns, pieces of wood, and many other materials which inspire various family projects.

Tell us about your business!
I have been sewing all my life, but as a business, I began working very recently,

only about a year ago. After combating two of my children’s severe eczema, and, in the process, learning a great deal about the toxicity of many conventionally-made products, I became committed to a healthier life style – eating local organic food, using organic fibers and herbs to minimize chemicals people are exposed to from their birth. I shared my newly-gained knowledge through the various hand-made gifts I made my friends and family. Then I found out about Etsy which gave me the opportunity to develop the hobby I love into a business. Almost everything I create, with some exceptions, is made from 100% organic cotton, wool, and silk, but at the same time doesn’t renounce style and comfort. I wanted a company name which would sound unusual and at the same time convey the elegance, sophistication, and purity of my products. The word nobby means exactly that – stylish and smart.

What do you make?
I specialize in children’s products, creating millet pillows, sleeping sacks, wool comforters, Waldorf dolls, and a number of other things, all of which I make with my own children in mind, using materials mostly produced from natural fibers such as organic cotton, organic merino wool, and organic silk.  Everything I sell I have used with my own children and have seen it work!

Where do you find inspiration?
My inspiration comes from my children, whom I watch as they play, laugh, create, and grow, my family, nature, or it could just be a piece of fabric… I put a lot of love and energy into my work and hope that this will be felt by those families who welcome it into their homes.

What’s the favorite thing you have ever made?
I think dolls have been my favorite. Seeing how abstract pieces of wool and cotton gradually shape themselves into a doll with its own peculiar physical characteristics and personality traits never fails to awe and excite me! 

How long have you been on Etsy and how has it been for you so far?
I joined Etsy a little less than a year ago, and it is still slow going. I sell products for children, which is a very competitive field, but I really enjoy the process and strive to create products of the highest quality, and I’m pretty sure the sales will come. It just takes time for people to get to know me and my work.

What do you hope to gain or contribute to the Natural Kids group?
I feel really happy to be a part of the NK team with its wonderful artisans and crafters who share their knowledge and time and support each other at every step. And for my part, I hope to contribute my enthusiasm to the team.

What thoughts do you have for parents on the importance of natural toys for creative play?
Natural materials like silk, wool, and wood provide a very different experience for your child’s little hands compared to the plastic of manufactured toys. Besides being comfortable and warm to the touch, natural materials allow your child to explore lots of textures which are totally unlike the relatively uniform and unnaturally-cool feel of plastic. Moreover, being open-ended and easy to use in a variety of ways, natural toys help develop a child’s imagination, encouraging creativity and hours and hours of play.

Find Nobby Organics here:
www.NobbyOrganics.etsy.com
www.NobbyOrganics.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nobby-Organics-Eco-Products-for-Children/136736249677153

Today Daria is giving away a set of Felt Spring Birds.


Here’s how to enter;
Visit Nobby Organics’ Etsy Shop and leave us a comment letting us know what your favorite item in her shop is.

For additional entries;
(leave a separate comment for each entry, if you don’t, they count as one)
Tweet this (include @NK_Store in your tweet)
Share on Facebook
Blog this giveaway
Follow the NaturalKids blog.
Contest is for US residents only, thank you for your understanding.

We will choose a winner randomly on August 25, 2011. (Please, make sure we have a way to contact you!)

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This Cosy Life Interview and Giveaway

Comments on this giveaway are now closed.

This week we take a close up look at This Cosy Life with owner and artist Julie.

Tell us about you!

My name is Julie and I am a single mom to three little girls. I raise my children, a couple of Babydoll sheep, angora rabbits and a gaggle of chickens and ducks in a very rural area of North Carolina. I’m very passionate about natural birthing, parenting, breastfeeding and simple living.

Handwork is very meaningful for me, it’s where I find my peace, my center. And it’s something I love being able to share with my children. It’s very important to me that they grow up with not just an appreciation of handmade but also the process of making, of creating.

Tell us about your business!

I opened my first Etsy shop in 2007 at the urging of my little sister. I began selling knitted accessories for women, mostly but soon found myself feeling restricted by my shop and uninspired. I changed my focus to the toys and things I had begun making for my own children and took off from there.

What do you make and how long have you been creating?

Now, I make and sell a pretty wide range of simple, natural toys, combining knitting with wood and still some of my originally designed knit accessories and patterns. I have been crafting for as long as I can remember, always making gifts for everyone in my family at a young age.

Where do you find inspiration?

My sweet little girls, the garden and the changing seasons. Beauty and wonder is all around us and my children help me to see it through their eyes and I channel that into something tangible. They also help me to think about how a toy can be used, is it interactive and multi-purposeful.

What got you started in your craft?

My “aunt” Ruthie first taught me to crochet and while I enjoyed it I really longed to knit. I begged my mother to teach me but she only barely remembered the most basic steps. I taught myself the rest. I’m now reteaching my mother and quite a few others. Knitting is something I am passionate about and I love sharing this passion with others, whether I am knitting for them or teaching them to do it themselves.

What’s your favorite thing you have ever made?

My favorite thing I have made is a hooded cardigan I made for my eldest daughter for Easter last year. She still wears it, with just a tank in spring/summer and over a long sleeved tee in the cooler months.

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

I’ve been selling on Etsy for 4 years and I really enjoy it. My business has steadily grown and increased. I do have slumps, summers are pretty slow for me but this just gives me a chance to work on new products for the upcoming holiday season.

What advice do you have for other Etsy artisans?

My advice for my fellow Etsians is always keep creating! It’s really not enough to make one thing over and over. You need to constantly work on new designs and keep your shop fresh.

What do you hope to gain or contribute to the Natural Kids group?

I hope to learn from the more experienced Natural Kids members, about what works and what doesn’t for their business (would love to glean some insight on beating the summer slumps). And I hope to contribute new ideas and simply a new prospective.

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

I think we need to give our children toys that are beautiful and simple and will inspire, without too many gadgets and attachments to get in the way of their beautiful creativity. A child’s imagination can produce incredible things when there isn’t so much ‘stuff’ getting in the way.

Today Julie is giving away one sweet little herb pot of the winner’s choice.

Here’s how to enter;

Visit This Cosy Life’s Etsy shop and leave us a comment letting us know what your favorite item in her shop is.

For additional entries;

(leave a separate comment for each entry, if you don’t, they count as one)

Tweet this (include @NK_Store in your tweet)

Share on Facebook

Blog this giveaway

Follow the NaturalKids blog.

And for this giveaway you can gain one additional entry by following This Cosy Life’s blog.

We will choose a winner randomly on August 11, 2011. (Please, make sure we have a way to contact you!)

*Please note; members of the NaturalKids Team and their families are excluded from entering this giveaway. This giveaway is open worldwide but international customer are responsible for any custom fees and taxes.

 

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Meet Long Mountain Art

This week we take a close up look at Long Mountain Art with thoughts from owner and creator Brittaini.

Hi there! I’m Brittaini from Long Mountain Art and I make Eco Friendly Apparel for children and babies. I live with my wonderful man Aaron in Columbus, Ohio with our son Santiago, 7 and our daughter Adelina, 1. I have been in this current business for about 3 years now. I’ve been teaching high school art going on 9 years now and I would love my business to be my full time job. Getting there!

I originally started selling my ceramic wear when I first started out doing shows and what not. That got to be too much for me to handle, now its just a hobby. I kind of fell into the silk screening business when I had my first child. First of all I didn’t find out what I was having so that it made it very difficult to get things ready for the new baby. Gender neutral has kind of, sadly, gone out the door with today’s technology. After I had my son, I was pretty annoyed with everything that I was finding. All the designs were too boring or cutesy. My family is a little rough around the edges…sometimes we play to the left. I wanted clothing that represented my son’s personality and polka dotted blue trucks were not going to do it.

It has also been very important to me to live as naturally as possible. Organic fibers and materials that leave as little a carbon footprint as possible had to be the focus of my line. It’s pretty appaling to realize the amount of chemicals that are in our regular cotton as well as the chemicals that are used in plasticine inks. Thus was born Long Mountain which is the meaning of my son’s last name, Montelongo.

My favorite thing I have made so far is my “Respect Your Mama” onesie and tee. It has a double meaning and I came up with it when my son was having a ‘not so nice’ moment towards me. It’s a great shirt that can be worn by either sex and any age.

Etsy has been interesting. It’s been pretty up and down but a good learning experience. I have had my online shop for a few years now and after taking a year off to have our daughter, I have the motivation to put more into it than ever before. It’s a lot of work but very worth it if it means I may one day be able to stay home with my kids while putting out a product I am proud of artistically and morally.

My advice to fellow Etsians is keep up the communication and community. That has been my biggest folly for my business and me personally. Being part of the online communities has helped me gain confidence and get out of my shell and the more I put into it, the better my business and my life is. It really is a priceless commodity.

I hope to be able to add a different perspective from an apparel point of view to the Natural Kids group. There is a lot of nasty things that go on with the manufacturing of our clothing and I think its important to be conscious of that. Also, being an art teacher, I know the great importance of creative play, especially with natural toys. Recently I went to an in-service about just this topic. There have been published studies done on the decline of our I.Q. scores and how the lack of creative play has really contributed to that. Technology is starting to rule our world and we need to take it back and give something to our children that not only is proven to make them smarter but gives them critical thinking skills and creative problem solving that will help them holistically in all areas of their lives even in adulthood. We really need to do better for our kids as a society and leave them a real legacy that has a positive impact on us all.

http://longmountainart.etsy.com

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Interview with Oast

This week we take a close up look at Oast with owner and artist Rachel.

Tell us about you
Hi, I am Rachel and I am a Canadian living in the UK. I live in a small farmhouse in rural Kent. We don’t work on the farm but benefit from watching the seasons change in the orchards and the beautiful birthing that takes place with the cows and sheep in the spring. The mark of the land in this area is the oast houses, which are the buildings where hops are dried for making beer. We happen to have a group of them that I look at as I craft and others on the rolling hills beyond the farm. My environment is very important to me and my surroundings are the ideal place for my small family to live. I have one husband, one child, and one one on the way. Another child, not another husband… oh you.

Tell us about your business
Oast is a Waldorf Doll shop. I have focused mostly on dolls for children 0 – 3 years old. That is starting to shift and I am enjoying the process of making jointed dolls for older children but they rarely make it as far as the shop.

Where do you find inspiration?
I find inspiration in children. I love to watch how they connect with their toys and what they chose to attach themselves to. It is a powerful thing to observe, and often far out of the rationalization of adults. By this I mean, what we would chose for our children seems to rarely be what they would chose for themselves. Like the idea that children like the box a toy comes in more than the toy itself. I see that with dolls as well. Parents are drawn to the dolls with full heads of hair a bit more detailing while their young children are attracted to the simple faces and soft bodies. This helps me trust my craft and inspires me to see the special qualities in each developmental stage that corresponds to certain doll types.

What got you started in your craft?
As is the story of many Waldorf doll makers, I made my first one for my daughter and have been going strong ever sense. It is addictive to create something that a child will grow and share with. After seeing and hearing how children respond to the dolls themselves, I fell even more in love with the process. There is nothing like watching a child hug one of my dolls for the first time.

What’s your favorite thing you have ever made?
My daughter. Seriously the best craft project ever, and the most consuming.

How long have you been on Etsy and how has it been for you so far?
I have been on Etsy nearly a year and I have found it slow going. I sell a product that has a lot of competition and I am just slowly making my way. I enjoy the process of creating and know that as long as I maintain the standards I have set for myself, the rest the sales will continue to come.

What do you hope to gain or contribute to the Natural Kids group?
I am pretty isolated where I live. The UK has amazing fiber arts and a lot of natural crafts people. I don’t have access to them on a regular basis from where I live. I hope to continue to be inspired by the NK community. I love the process of creating and also the professionalism projected by the team. I work very hard at not only making a high quality doll that is safe for children but one that will make many journeys. The Natural Kids group follow this same ethos. The doll makers on the Natural Kids Team are all amazing and I feel so happy to be amongst them. I am hoping that I will be able to contribute to the team through my enthusiasm and love of community.

Share your links:
oast.etsy.com
oast.blogspot.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58465055@N05/

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Fun In The Sun Natty Kids Style

Check out what the Natty Kids were up to this weekend. What fun things did you and your own natural kids do? We’d love to hear about it!

Whether it be tending the garden

Or admiring the year’s crop.

Bubbles are always a favorite, as is a healthy snack (just not at the same time!)

How about a quiet walk in the woods to spy some fairies?

 
No fun in the sun is complete without water of course.

Braving something new,

Some sensory play,

Or just the thrill of cooling off.

Fun in the sun is calling, what will you do?

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Our First Harvest Of The Year

Our garden has yielded the first vegetables of the year, two perfect radishes. My son was beside himself he was so excited. The radishes are “his” since the seeds came with the garden bag we got him earlier in the year.

Gardening has been a family affair this year. After 5 years of trying to grow vegetables in various pots in various locations around our shade dense property, I gave up. This past fall I told my husband I was through looking at bushes I didn’t like and demanded the removal of many of them directly in front of the house. It’s the one place that gets enough sun to grow vegetables. After all, I’d much rather look out and see a beautiful garden than random bushes.

It didn’t take long before the kids were into the act and we were all throwing out ideas for the kinds of plants to plant and how it all should come together. Honestly, that’s the best way to get your kids involved, just talk about what they’d like to grow. Tell them what you’d like to grow and why. When you know what they are interested in, it’s then easy to delve deeper and teach them everything about that particular plant.

After we decided upon our seeds, we planned our garden. We built raised beds and decided that given the small space, we’d go with a square foot garden approach. I even bought the book by Mel Bartholomew. It’s been immensely helpful. Our garden boxes came together nicely and then we waited, not so patiently, for winter to pass so we could start planting.

Planting was the most fun for the kids. Who doesn’t like to stick their hands in the dirt? Putting seeds in the holes, gently covering them up and then watering (oh what fun the watering is!), and, again not so patiently, waiting for them to peek up out of the ground.

We tend the garden every day to check on our crop, to talk about the changes in the plants, to predict which plants will grow well, what will be next to harvest and which ones the kids want to try. Their enthusiasm is endless because they are a part of the process and because they can take ownership of the accomplishment. And as a result, they are not only learning a lot, but experiencing so many new things too. I am quite certain that the only reason my son tried radishes is because they were “his” and he grew them with love and pride.

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Interview with BirchLeaf Designs

This week we take a close up look at BirchLeaf Designs in our talk with owner and creator Wendy.

Tell us about you!
We are BirchLeaf Designs! We are a family of four, living, homeschooling, and making natural toys off the grid. We use solar power to run our homestead along with chickens and pigs that help “power” our gardening efforts.

Tell us about your business!
BirchLeaf Designs was created when our children decided that we should start making toys and sell them at the festivals. So that is exactly what we did – our first festival was in the summer of ’06. We then opened up our Etsy shop, hoping to fill in the gaps in-between festivals and farmer’s markets. We came up with the name “BirchLeaf” by combining our children’s middle names.

What do you make and how long have you been creating?
We make fun toys that inspire imaginations and feed creative souls. Toys made from natural materials like wood and silk that will last and be passed down to even littler creative souls! Our children were the wind behind our sails and our inspiration to begin. Examples of some of our stuff include playsilks, swords and shields, poi, and bug boxes. We also make other items for the home, like cuttingboards, rice paddles and spatulas and items for babies and mamas, like teething rings, baby spoons, tie-dyed onesies and baby-carrying slings, and mama teas and baths for labor and birth.

Where do you find inspiration?
Our inspiration stems from the children, oh to see them smile! Oh, to see them interact with each other! Oh, to feel the love and happiness!

What’s your favorite thing you have ever made?
Hmm. That’s a tricky one. I think my most favorite toy is Poi. Not because the process of how it is made, but because how addictive it is to do! It is such a great exercise in upper body strength and coordination.

How long have you been on Etsy and how has it been for you so far?
We entered the world of Etsy in December of ’07 and we *love* it! Sales have been decent and we have networked with so many interesting artists. Having an online presence and being on Etsy’s NaturalKids Team has been invaluable to us as a home-based business.


What advice do you have for other Etsy artisans?
Go for it!
Advertise a lot!
Join a street team!
Be nice to the Earth!

What do you hope to gain or contribute to the Natural Kids group?
We hope to give to the NaturalKids team, by sharing our knowledge of our space in time and we hope to gain the same beauty and reverence of other team members.

What thoughts do you have for parents on the importance of natural toys for creative play?
The depth of this topic is intense! It basically boils down to OnePeopleOneEarth. We have one life to live and one Earth to live it on…let’s do what we can to keep the Earth clean and feed our creative souls in the process!

Share your links:
Shop: http://birchleafdesigns.etsy.com
Home: http://birchleafdesigns.net
Blog:http://birchleafdesigns.blogspot.com
FB: http://www.facebook.com/pages/BirchLeaf-Designs/49544873214
Twitter: @birchleaf

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Interview with Elemental Handcrafts

This week we take a close up look at Stephanie in our talk with owner and creator Elemental Handcrafts.

Tell us about you!   
I’m the mother of three beautiful, amazing, compassionate, vegetarian, earth friendly children and wife to one amazing husband. I spent some of my most formative time managing the bunny department at a large no-kill animal sanctuary in the beautiful high Utah desert. 

Tell us about your business!  
My business is here to promote wool items made from humane wool. That is, all of my wool is either recycled, (as in previously loved sweaters), or from a small US farm where each sheep has a name and is part of the family;  never to be bred or eaten. So much of the wool used in other people’s crafts, while beautiful, comes from animals that don’t have happy living conditions and are not treated in a humane way. I prefer to work with “good karma wool”. The wood I use in my crafts is from the US and sustainable harvested. 

What do you make and how long have you been creating?  
I’ve been creating all of my life, but for my business:  eight years. In addition to my felted breastfeeding and pregnancy dolls, I also make needle felted recycled wool crowns, personalized wooden balls and baby spoons, hand drawn and carved stamps, knitting needles and other natural toys.

Where do you find inspiration? 
My inspiration is my kids, my commitment to the environment and animal rights. I put a lot of my energy into my work and truly believe that when someone welcomes a work of mine into their home or gives it as a gift, a little bit of that love goes with it.

What got you started in your craft?  
I started my business when my second  daughter was born, 6 years ago. We were attending a Waldorf playgroup and decided that the moms would make a wool doll for the teacher who had just given birth. I was to come up with the basic doll and everyone would help embellish her. From there my business of needle felted doll making was born. Since then my creations have mushroomed from humane wool into up-cycled wool, wood and carvings.

What’s your favorite thing you have ever made?  
That’s a tough one. Probably the felted Mother Earth sculpture I made while I was pregnant with my son. She was beautiful, with an earth belly and wild curly hair. I traded her to a midwife for a view of the most beautiful picture of a woman who had just given birth that I have ever seen. Her smile spoke volumes!

How long have you been on Etsy and how has it been for you so far?  
I’ve been on Etsy since Nov 25, 2007 and with 488 sales, I’m pretty happy. I like seeing all the upgrades they’ve been doing. Now I’m just waiting for the ability to change my store name to Earthetarian without losing all my shop info!


What advice do you have for other Etsy artisans?  
Go for it!!! Etsy is great in that you get out of it what you put in. It is a wealth of info and full of amazing artists.

What do you hope to gain or contribute to the Natural Kids group?  
I hope I can contribute advice and answers when I have them and ideas to help the team run smoothly and be a successful jumping off point for all of our artists. I’ve already gained so much in exposure and pats on the back. If I had enough time, I know many of the artist on the team could become like-minded close friends.

What thoughts do you have for parents on the importance of natural toys for creative play?  
There is no comparison between natural toys and plastic, mass produced toys, especially for young children. A simple, open ended toy that leads a child on a journey can’t be improved upon. Plastic toys break and are lost forever. If a natural toy breaks, you can almost always fix it, and because of its beauty you will almost always want to. 

Share the links:
my website is www.ElementalHandcrafts.etsy.com
I also have another shop at www.Earthetarian.com

Thanks for reading! Stephanie