Happy Holidays!

We sat down a few nights ago and made a wooden Christmas tree together.  I cut out 2 trees from some off cut plywood and bought a package of coloured thumb tacks.  Each kid got a hammer and away they went.  (Half way through my husband came up with the brilliant idea of predrilling the holes which made things go a lot faster.)  It was a fun family activity.  Happy holidays to all!

Happy Birthday to my babies!

So this post is a month late but I wanted to share with you an idea.  The kid's birthdays were coming up (5 and 3yrs) and I wanted to do something simple, no gifts, no lootbags filled with candy and crappy toys made by underpaid workers in China. (Did I just write that?  Yes, STUFF is bothering me lately.  We have too much of it and it is stressing me out.)  Anyway, I thought that if the party goers could do a craft that they could then take home and use then it would be like a loot bag without candy, without the bag and with a toy they made themself.  So this is what I came up with.  The kids had fun doing it and it was easy for me to put together.

 

For these do-it-yourself tops, I cut a piece of dowl into 1.5" pieces, drilled holes into a stack of wooden circles I had left over from another project and then had the kids sharpen one end of the dowl.  They then put the dowl through the hole and decorated with markers.  Watercolours would look lovely too.  My son figured out to to decorate his so that when the top was spinning, his artwork would make stripes of colour.  Fun, easy and hopefully a fun toy for the kids to keep.

Yippee for Wooden Toys Sellers in Edmonton

Check this out!  Here is a new online store selling some lovely wooden toys (especially lovely are the vehicles of mine! wink, wink).  The best thing for most of my readers is that the mamas behind it are from Edmonton and are willing to ship locally for free!
Here it is...
Tiny Footprint Toys

Missing You

Dear Blog,
Please forgive me. I have been crazy busy since the last time I wrote. My husband and I took our little ones with the help of my SIL and BIL into the backcountry for a 5 day canoe trip. We have a great time! Since we came back mid August, I have had custom orders piled high. I made and sold 20 cars, 12 puzzles, 18 teethers and a few other interesting items. I am hoping to be a better blogger now but 2 days a go, I got 7 more orders for name puzzles! Yikes.
Hope to talk soon,
Mama

The best way to fish is to wait until all 3 kids fall asleep.  Did I say best?  I meant only!

I love custom orders!  Thanks for these requests, they were fun!

Help The Gulf Coast Etsy Shop

Check out this etsy shop that is made up of donated items from etsy sellers.  What a good idea.  100% of proceeds go to charity.  Check it out:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/HelpTheGulfCoast
You might also recognize a little something from me...

 

Wooden crafts on etsy

If you like wood, here are two fun little treasuries that I have been featured in on etsy.  There are some really great hand made pieces.  Have a peek...

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c3ba50c08386d91040a0417/in-the-woods

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c376e2424ec8eefadf1877f/wood-you-be-mine

Wooden Baby Teethers

I made some new teethers yesterday.  This little owl was inspired by two lovely ladies from Birth Source. http://www.birthsource.ca/shop/  Birth Source is a store in Edmonton that (amoung other things) carries all kinds of goodies for your earthy baby and tiny tot.  (Shameless plug alert:  I should also add that if you are looking to purchase one of my wooden teethers you can find a selection there.)
The bird in a tree teether is a modification of one I posted a while back.  I like the softer lines of this one better.  Have a good week everyone:)

Handmade in Canada Giveaway!

I am part of the Handmade in Canada Giveaway!  Over 60 etsy shops accross Canada are celebrating Canada Day by having a sale and giveaway.  (Including me! http://www.mamaswoodshop.etsy.com/)
Check it out the giveaway and  sale details here:
http://etsyalberta.blogspot.com/
My pocket buddies are part of gift basket number one.  There are so many nice items, so I encourage you to enter!  Free stuff!  Free Stuff!

Fire Truck jigsaw puzzle

How cute is this?  Here is one of the submissions I got from last week.  Hand cut, old fashioned jigsaw puzzle by me and art work by 4 yr old Elijah!  (approx 5" x 6")  Thanks Elijah, it will be on its way very soon.

Children's Artwork Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles

I have been experimenting with cutting old fashioned wooden jigsaw puzzles lately. Here is one I made of Tommy's artwork for him. He calls it Colours, Colours, Everywhere.  It has 15 pieces but is a little tricky with the randomly shaped pieces I made. Perfect for the 4 year old who thinks he is a puzzle master:)


I need some more practice with these so I will make a free 4 x 6 jigsaw puzzle for the first 2 people to email me (mamaswoodshop at gmail.com) their child's artwork. Colourful pictures with thick color lines will be easier to put together so the child can match the colors as well as shapes. It also makes a good Father's Day gift so if you are thinking along this route, feel free to write a message and make the picture trickier! I am sure it will take a little while for your young artist to create something and then for you to scan it so I will let you know here once I have received the first 2 submissions. Hurry!

Mine!

Here are some wooden cars.  As I was trying to take a picture of them for you someone kept trying to steal one! hmmmmmm. Do you think he likes that one?

Wooden Teethers

I made up a whole whack of new teethers... and then sold most of them before I could get them up on the blog:)  ...and yes that is meant to be a peanut in the elephant.  hmmmm.  I need to work on that one.
Have a nice weekend everyone!

Pocket Animals

Whooooweeeee!  These are a big hit.  I have noticed Sally lately likes to fill her pocket with things.  If she has a pocket on her outfit, then something will be in it.  (She currently has a purple candy wrapper from the only hard candy she has ever had in her coat pocket and won't let me put it in the garbage.  She won't let her siblings touch it either!)
I whipped up 3 little pocket buddies last night and gave them out this morning.  Here is a picture of Sally delighted with her new friends.
I will be selling these soon.  Can you help me with a name?  Pocket Buddies?  Pocket Pets? Pocket Pals?

A, B, C, D, E, F, G....(singing out loud)

I made another old fashioned wooden jigsaw puzzle.  This one for the sole purpose to teach letter recognition.  I didn't want to cut it out like the mass produced grid cardboard puzzles but I felt I needed to to get what I wanted in terms of the learning....and it worked.  Each peice is cut so that it has one letter on it and it is pretty much cut along the color lines.  We discovered, the puzzle is best put together by singing the alphabet in crazy voices very slowly and finding the corresponding letter in the pile. (- All this while laughing and having two tiny girls jump on and off your back.)  Thus, the letter recognition practice that I was looking for.

Kreativ Blogger

Wow, thanks Melissa for passing the Kreativ Blogger Award on to me!  I met Melissa through the Alberta Street Team over in Etsy.  Melissa's Blog, http://sixbabygirls.blogspot.com/ shows what a talented crafter she is.  Check out her latest monster glass beads!  They are sooooooo adorable.  I might just have to get one for myself!

Now I have a few duties as recipient of this fun award, and they are:
1. Post the award on my blogspot.
2. Thank the person who gave it to me.
3. Link to the person who gave this to me. See above!
4. Share a list of 7 things that you probably don't know about me...
5. Choose 7 great bloggers to give the award to.
6. Share a link to their blogs.
7. Leave a comment on their blog.

Seven things you may not know about me:
1. I am a tall, red head!  Long live the red headed gene!!
2. I have an awesome husband, 4 yr old son and twin 2 yr old daughters.
3. I don't like chocolate.
4. I do like candy.  Is there such a thing as a candy-aholic?
5. I teach part time at the U of A.
6. I drink a lot of Chai Lattes from Starbucks.
7. I love to camp, anyone interested in coming camping to Drumheller this summer?

Now for the seven bloggers I think deserve to get the award in no particular order:
http://www.handmadetherapy.blogspot.com/
http://www.twostraycats.blogspot.com/
http://thirdst.blogspot.com/
http://thelittlelads.blogspot.com/
http://bellapuzzles.com/
http://littledivasbows.blogspot.com/
http://heather-cardcreations.blogspot.com/

Whew, tht was hard ....if only I could pick more than 7. 
Have a good one everyone!

A little birdie

My little birdie is featured in this blog.  http://handmadetherapy.blogspot.com/2010/05/etsy-finds.html  Check it out.
Ah... sunny today and lots of birds.  What could feel more like spring?

 

Laundry Line

I meant to post this last week but I got busy.  Sorry. Many of you have seen it already but I wanted to tell you a bit about it.  Actually, there is a birthday idea here so I really just wanted to make it public so my husband sees it. Ba ha ha ha...

I was at our old house one day recently and I saw my old laundry line.  I remember installing the new wire shortly after we moved in.  When the kids were born, we hung the diapers outside to dry.  I even took one of those cliche photos of the diapers drying on the line.  Anyway, our new house doesn't have a laundry line (Ah Mike, this is where you pay attention).  I really miss it.  When I saw the line, I thought it would look neat to make a puzzle with the kerf line (the cut line the saw makes) representing the wire.  So? Does it look cool or what?  I see a puzzle in my future with a boy or girl fishing in a pond just so the fishing line can be the kerf line.

I am in love with Etsy!

Ok, so if you make something, anything, I think you should open an Etsy shop.
Why?  Because it is soooooooo easy to do, so inexpensive, you have nothing to lose and even better...you can join a Team like I did.  What are you talking about you ask? A Team? Yep.  I joined the Alberta Team: http://www.etsyalberta.blogspot.com/  This is a group of awesome, friendly, helpful people who all work together to promote each other's shop.  What is great for the customer, is that if you want to buy local you can go to one place and see all the etsy crafters in Alberta!

............and "we" are having a SALE this week.  Even me:)  From May 1 - 7 many of our shops are discounting their crafts.  It is all here.  Just click.

Custom Orders - Thanks guys!

I had sooooooooo much fun making these.  Thanks you guys!

Three Cute Teethers and One Cute Boy!

Oh so fun to make!  Ok.  Way too late to post anything but pics.  Maybe tomorrow?

Pretty In Pink Loves Canada

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=126587

I have been featured in a treasury on etsy!  Check it out.  It is called Pretty In Pink Loves Canada.  There are many other beautiful items.  Link expires on Tuesday so go now!

I finally finished the teethers I started.  I will upload them to the shop some time today!  Happy Earth Day everyone!

Cute Give Aways For Earth Day

Check out Natural Kids for a give away for babe's who love green handmade lovliness.
http://natural-kids.blogspot.com/2010/04/happy-earth-day.html
Another one...
http://themagiconions.blogspot.com/2010/04/natural-kids-earth-day-giveaway.html

I cut 5 teethers.  Just need to finish up.  Jessica said I could put some in her dance studio!  Yippee.  I am thinking in a wooden bowl or little basket - not sure yet.  For anyone who hasn't heard, J'adore dance is just a few blocks away from me and having free trial classes all week for their grand opening celebration!  Check out - http://jadoredance.com/

Beautiful Puzzles

While we (me included) are waiting for a new puzzle or toy to appear here.  Check out this page of beauty!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/YurtMade
drool

Ice Cream, Ice Cream!

When I made this on Saturday it was "no jackets outside" weather.  Today it is snowing.  It is not too cold for ice cream though.  We had a blast this morning taking turns selling ice cream and picking our flavours to buy.  Thank goodness for the cash register we got for birthdays!