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What’s new, and well, natural, from the NaturalKids Team

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 artist from who have one thing in common – they all work with natural materials.

Marie in the Garden

Farida hails from Seattle, Washington, USA. As she was born on the feast day of St. Alkelda, it seemed only right to name her shop “Alkelda” …Old English for “healing spring”! Alkelda: Dolls for Storytelling creates natural, beautifully embroidered wool felt figures for use in nature table displays, storytelling, and imaginative play.

Here is one of her most recent treasures…Marie in the Garden!


Woolie’s Lace Shawl Pattern

Sara creates her artisan stuffed animals and toys from Tucson, Arizona, USA. Her shop Woolies features her natural hand-knitted and cloth treasures, as well as patterns to make your own. Here is her latest… Lace Shawl Knitting Pattern.

Dollhouse Doll Rosie

Natalie works from British Columbia, Canada. Her shop, Woolhala, features all-natural Waldorf & dollhouse dolls, doll clothe and wool felt animals. Here is her newest dollhouse doll… Rosie.

From patterns to wool stuffed storytelling treasures to doll house components, these are just a few of the natural treasures 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

Posted on

What’s New, and, Well, Natural from the Natural Kids 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 artist from who have one thing in common – they all work with natural materials!

Chimera   is the home of wool felt toys, roving and handspun yarn, accessories for knitters and spinners. Great gifts for your fiber loving friends!  Hailing from New Jersey, Kersin says, “I’ve been playing with fiber and crafting my entire life. Wool is my favorite material because it is so versatile. With wool I can make a silky scarf, spin colorful yarn, sculpt a landscape or felt a durable rug. Adding to the fun is the ability to dye wool any colors I choose, and to add in other fibers to create something truly unique.” Here is her latest…The Secret Cave Needle Felted Playmat.
 
 BostonBeanies specializes in practical and whimsical baby hats from, well, beantown. Rebecca is of course from Boston, and in her words, “I started knitting in grad school to keep my fingers busy so I could concentrate on the lectures. My friends got sick of me giving them scarves as gifts all the time, and then they started getting married and having babies, so I started making gifts for the next generation. I love the creative outlet of designing my own hats, and as a children’s librarian, I love the connection of wearable art and picture book art. So take a look, and enjoy a bit of whimsy!” Here is her Boston Beanies Knit Lavender Blossom Hat.

Wendy, of Birchleaf Designs in Michigan, offers you whimisical, natural wood and fabric playthings and some housewares as well. Everything from silks to swords…her shop is a real treasure trove of natural goodies from a business run by a family that literally lives off the grid! Here is her newest offering…the Reusable, Replayable, Rewrappable Trio of Playsilks for Spring!  
  
Those are the featured new items for this week, from one of a kind needle felted treasures, to lovely baby hat to play silks, 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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Nature Table, The Sounds of Spring

On Sunday morning you would think it was Christmas here in our house as the sounds of 4 excited children ring out of our rafters. The night before, the Nature Table will be cleared of all signs of Winter and we will clean and pack our items away. Once the children are asleep the Spring decorations will be brought out and a few new items will be left by the Spring Fairies to add to our table this year.

This year, my mother and niece will be joining us for our celebration. Since this has not happened yet, I will share with you today our Spring Ad from the NaturalKids Team. As with the Nature Table, our ad changes with the seasons. This lovely collection of handmade items can be found in out team members shops. There are so many delightful items in our shops you may need 2 tables.

Rocks and Pond by http://www.etsy.com/shop/MuddyFeet
Mushroom House by http://www.etsy.com/shop/cutelittlething
Bendy Princess by http://www.etsy.com/shop/dannielle
Green Play Silk by http://www.etsy.com/shop/birchleafdesigns
Bunny by http://www.etsy.com/shop/fairiesnest
Pink Felt Doll by http://www.etsy.com/shop/alkelda
Hedgehog by http://www.etsy.com/shop/dayanra
Trees, Wooden Fairy Doll, and Shy Playsilk by http://www.etsy.com/shop/theenchantedcupboard

There are other great items from our team members on the NaturalKids Team website:
http://www.naturalkidsstore.com/cat_tables.html

Please leave a comment and share with us some ways you celebrate spring!

Article by Beccijo, The Enchanted Cupboard

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Nature Table, Adding Nature

I like to change our Nature Table each week. It is so important during the long winter days that the children have something to look forward to at the beginning of the week. Sometimes it may be to bring out a few new items to add to the table or it could be a complete change of scenery. This week I did a more natural look to the table with our little bears coming out of their stacker den.

Another thing that we love to do is add bits of nature to our scenes. The boys have been gathering items from our yard to add to the table. Before we moved to the country we use to go to a large park that had nature trails to collect our items. We added to our basket sticks, rocks, pine cones, and pine branches.

The kids love to get on the floor and just play with these or add them to the table. Many times I find them just sorting the natural items into piles, sometimes by item, sometimes by size. Kids just really love to touch and feel thing from nature, it “grounds” their spirit!

Here is our final table this week the kids have added a few of each of the items even using the pine branch as a tree. I hope you have enjoyed our table this week and will share with us a link to your blog showing your winter table or a favorite memory.

Article by Beccijo, The Enchanted Cupboard

Need some new items to add to your winter Nature Table check out these items:

JustHatched
DadsWoodenToys
chimera
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What’s New, and, Well Natural from the Natural Kids Team on Etsy

Welcome! Today I’m going to continue my trek backwards through the alphabet to bring the stories of the creators and their newest wonderful handmade treasures, made with natural materials from…yes! the Naturalkids Team on Etsy!

Welcome to the The Wood Garden  Chris and Laura,  create natural, handmade wooden toys and dishes for babies, toddlers and children. They are a husband and wife team who have always been creative–in fact, they met in high school art class. When their first son was small Chris started making wooden trucks for him, and quickly fell in love with woodworking and creating wooden toys especially. He bought more tools and made it his hobby, and later a business as they started to sell the toys at craft shows under the name CB (Canadian Built) Woodcrafts. Eventually they heard about Etsy and decided to open up a shop here under a new name, The Wood Garden.  Here is their  Handcrafted Wooden Rattle in Walnut and Purple Heart.

The shop The Violet Sparrow  is named after their two saanen dairy goats, Violet and Sparrow. They aim to please our planet-and you with every natural, handmade item they create, from children’s upcycled wool sweater slippers, needle-felted designs, children’s stuffed toys, waldorf dolls and thier hand-made, hand-milked goatmilk soaps and accessories.

The shop is filled with goods inspired by the treasures they make for and with their children. As a Waldorf-inspired homeschooling family, they are constantly creating our own playthings, dolls, and beautiful things for their  home and nature table. This is reflected in thier shop!

  Here is the   Heart Purse with Valentines Fairy and Gnome Friends 

Elizabeth from the The Sitting Tree    is an obsessed knitter. She knits anywhere & everywhere, except while riding her bike, as she has not figured that one out yet. Her favorite place to knit, though, is nestled into the trunk of a shady tree overlooking the St. Croix River. Perhaps this is the very tree she named her shop  after!

She’s inspired by everything nature, and tries to make sure her products reflect the love and respect she has for mother earth. By upcycling and using natural fibers, this goal is manifested in one of her newest listings, the Tree Squirrel Upcycled cloth diaper soaker.

Mary is the creator behind The Green Goat.    She’s an artist with a Bachelors degree in Graphic Design, living in the Midwest. She’s a wife, a stay-at-home momma of two, and someone who enjoys the simplest things in life. The Green Goat came about after her second child was born. It was then that her bottled up creative energy exploded into a children’s collection and then some. She is head-over-heels in LOVE with her new roll as mommy, but  can’t quite shake the desire to create things. So, she works in the evenings, after her babies are fast asleep. Mommy by day, screen printer by night. “I have the best of both worlds! I truly LOVE what I do and am so tickled to be able to share my creations with you,” she says. Here is her
 Peacock on Seafoam spaghetti strap dress   !

From clothing to dolls, to diapers and rattles, this week’s offering brings you just a taste of the natural creations  you can expect to find and make part of your life from the Natural kids Team on Etsy! Look here for a full list of our shops!

Thank you for visiting this week! I’ll have another bunch of our shops to introduce you to next week as I showcase their recent creations. I look forward to seeing you then, in the meantime, our blog has interesting and informative entries each day. Enjoy!

Creatively yours!
Rebecca    aka Nushkie