Etsy Handmade Toy Guide

Since it's black Friday and all, I just thought I would drop in with my own personal list of handmade favorites, all found in crazy labyrinth of shops Etsy has become.  Tell me, does it not warm your heart though, just a little bit, to know that there is so much good handmade stuff for kids out there?  It makes me all giddy just to look at this collage.  Options for kids on Etsy have definitely improved over the last few years and what can be found goes far beyond plushies and custom outfits for Blythe dolls.   Some of these shops were new to me, but many are also tried and true favorites of mine--like The Small Object (and yes, I will be buying the I Like to Draw pencils and drawing set for Beeper's stocking). 

Some of my very favorites are the activity book from Belle and Boo (bought it some time ago and it is worth every one of its 9 dollars--so lovely and full of the sweetest variety of activities and crafts), the mohair bunny with all its adorable outfits and teeny weeny pastries from Man o' Mine, those simple wands with the colorful knitted handle from Green Mountain Wee Woolies, that funny little wool plushie from Sara Carr, and while this is not handmade--well, I had to slip in a vintage Fisher Price set in there (we already own this pop-up trailer and truck set--so brilliant the way it pops up, the little motorcycle that sits on the trailer, and the little boat on the top of the SUV).  Oh, and that new cat design from Cotton Monster is killing me I love it so much and really just want it for myself.

So, go ahead, do a little browsing, click away and get a closer look at some of the items and support all the great artists and crafters out there making so much fantastic stuff. (the list runs from left to right, starting at the top--just in case you happen to follow the photos from right to left from the bottom or some other wonky way)

1.    Multi-colored Natural Wooden Blocks from Imagination Kids $16 

2.    French Alphabet Cards $58 From Bibitty 

3.    Hand Turned Wooden Top from Urban Turn $4  

4.    Hellobaby Munchkin from Viola Studio $19 

5.    Little Tooth Teething Toy from Little Sapling Toys $12 

6.    Pogo Handstitched Woodland Friend  from Pogo $44 

7.    Aada Bunny from Man O Mine $200 

8.    Bubbles Before Bed Book from Belle and Boo $10.75 

9.    The Little Lion Hat from SweetPeaToadTots $55 

10. Tree Branch wands $5 rom Green Mountain Wee Woolies 

11. Set of semi Trailers from Nin Design $38 

12. Rainbow Alien Invasion Finger Puppet Set from Babus Toys $45 

13. Letterpress Fortune Teller from Sycamore Street Press $8  

14. Vintage Fisher Price Pop Up Camper $44 from Toys of the Past 

15. Ultimate Mustache Crayon Set $10.95 from Gaddy Nipper Crayons 

16. Lina Von Katz Kitten from Cotton Monster $58 

17. Paper Doll Set from Sarah Jane Studios $9 

18. Indoor Teepee Tent from Moozle $195 

19. Linen Doll Tallulah from Leilalou $26 

20. Ninjas with Intelligence from Goose Grease $30 

21. Green Digger from Elsie Marley $55 

22. Bear, Bunny, Bird Pocket Notebook Three Pack $12 from The Black Apple  

23. I am Here - Your neighborhood custom map play mat from Board Stiff $28.50  

24. Wooden Car Stacker from Just Hatched $18 

25. I Like to Draw Pencil Pack from The Small Object

26. Unique Linen Pencil Clutch $23.09 from Pilli Pilli 

27. Edie Plush from Sara Carr $39 

28. Silver Bubble Wand from Nina Gibson Designs $38 

29. Coco Doll from Beeb $43.50 

30. Mushroom Bowling $28 from Muddy Feet 

31. Yellow and Blue Wooden Toy Boats from Friendly Fairies $58 

32. Design Your Own Starter Home $18 from The Merc Shop 

33. Shooting Marbles Set from Marble Maam  $9 

34. Tim from Raplapla $56 

35. Walking Blocks from Asher Jasper $40 

36. Pull Raven from Sleeping Forest $28 

In My Shop: Pouches of Recycled Crayons

The molded recycled crayon sets are in my shop.  4 designs: animals, crystals and rocks, dinos, and gem stones.  Each set comes with 9-10 crayons and each comes in a little cotton draw string pouch with a card attached proudly reminding you that the crayons are recycled.  Perfect for playing, creating and admiring their colorful, shiny loveliness.

Find them all here.

HP + HK = True Love 4-ever

Hands up: Who's going to the Harry Potter movie premier tomorrow?  I confess, we bought tickets weeks ago and while Beeper was the one who really brought Harry Potter into our home when he asked me to read the first book to him--well, I believe my love of Harry Potter has long since outstripped his.  And this is no small statement since the kid has been walking around with a wand and in knock-off Harry Potter glasses for weeks now.  And yes, the photo above was from Halloween--we bought some temporary hair color that you spray on and it was supposed to be brown, but instead it looks like Harry drank a little too much butterbeer with the girls in Hufflepuff and decided to let them put a henna rinse in his hair or something.  Or maybe it was just a poorly executed spell in transfiguration class.  You decide.

Whatever the case,  I am so excited to see the latest movie I may not even be able to sleep tonight. (And I am comfortable with the fact that I am this big of a nerd, okay?)  The past 6 weeks we have been meeting with friends every Friday for a chronological viewing of the earlier Harry Potter movies--leading right up to tomorrow's premier.  Butterbeer was made a couple of times, and we made cockroach clusters the night we hosted--and put out dishes of Jelly Bellies and just called them Every Flavor Beans.  Licorice Wands were a weekly staple too.  And yes, I admit my inner schoolgirl self has a crush on Harry.  I've always had a thing for nice boys--which is why I married Mr Beeper, I suppose--but above all else Harry is so damn nice.  That gets me every time.  And maybe I should be embarrassed and feel like Mrs Robinson, but the thing is one of my other friends recently admitted she has a crush on Ron Weasley--and now wants this t-shirt--so at least I am not alone.  

Leave a comment if you too love Harry--or Ron, or Lupin or Hagrid, or whomever.  It's okay to admit it.  You are safe here.

Sharing: Gifts to Make for Kiddos

Only 6 weeks until Christmas, people.  So, how are your holiday projects and gifts coming along?  Yeah, I thought so.  Me too.  Well, anyway, here's a handful of projects you could make for the kiddies in your life--if you need some ideas.  These are some of my own favorites.  Like that sweet little lavender baby from Molly Chicken.  Or that simple and colorful fabric stove cover.  Or how about those uber-sweet bookplates from Sweet Jessie--a little stack of those would make a lovely gift. Oh, and I made the felt sandwich from Myrtle and Eunice last year as a gift and it looked awesome (especially the lettuce leaf--loved that). Go here to find the links to all of the above projects.  What are you waiting for?  Go already.

Make This: Spelling Bean Bags

Check out that stack of bean bags.  This is what you get when you take my counting bean bags subtract the numbers and add the alphabet.  

Spelling bean bags, people--or just a whole bunch of bean bags with letters on them if you do not care for spelling.  Whatever the case, these came about because I was asked to do a new version of these for a book submission, but then the submission was passed up (happily, they accepted another submission I snuck in there--cannot share any details now though so do not even ask)--so even though it is a bit like re-gifting, you still get to be the lucky recipients of this reject project--all for the low, low price of clicking on the project link and downloading the tutorial.  Hard to beat that.  Get your copy right here, right now:

DOWNLOAD SPELLING BEANBAG TUTORIAL

Of course, it does take a bit of time to make this set of bean bags--26 bean bags containing every letter of the alphabet is not for the applique-faint-of-heart.  But, if you portion the project out over a couple of evenings instead of going all gonzo and attempting to do it all in one go--well, you may find it manageable, if not meditative.  

Tell me these would not make a great gift for the elementary-school-spelling set.  Oh, and this one set (and one set only) you see here is for sale in my little shop if you do not have the beanbag sewing fortitude to make your own--find it here.  Happy spelling-bean-bag-making, people.  And please, do not forget to share your creations in my Beeper Bebe project Flickr group--love to see what you guys get up to with my designs and how you make them your own.

Recycled Crayons

Inspired by this tutorial on Homemade by Jill, last weekend I bought two enormous bags of used crayons at my local thrift store for about $3.00--and this was what resulted...

My favorite?  The crystals and rocks set you see above--it is the natural history nerd in me.  All in all, those two bags of crayons yielded about 28 sets of molded crayons with 9-10 crayons per set.   Made some tags up and they will be up for sale in my Etsy shop sometime this month--as well as selling some at No Coast.

Of course, this makes it all sound easy--and the melting of crayons and pouring them into molds is simple--but peeling the paper off crayons is pretty damn frustrating and labor-intensive since old used crayons tend to be pretty stuck in their wrappers--but about halfway through Mr Beeper stepped in with an industrial box-cutter and just started slicing all the crayons right out of the wrappers in a fraction of the time like a crayon-shelling ninja (thanks, babycakes!).   I melted all of my crayons in a stainless steel kitchen bowl placed in a pan of boiling water on the stove, and this cleaned up fine with hot water and soap (albeit a little messy).  Just be careful to not get any water in your melted crayons as this will cause them to harden with a grainy texture rather than being all shiny and happy and new looking.   And in case you were wondering, all of my molds came from Bake It Pretty (about $2 apiece). 

I highly recommend this--especially if you can find old used crayons since it is an awesome way to recycle unloved crayons (if you cannot find any at your thrift store, ask friends--who does not have a stash of these?--I admit I raided some of Beeper's older fat crayons he longer uses to add to the pile).  Beeper loves them and has already selected a set of the animal crayons for himself.  And me, I am already thinking about the future valentine's favors that might result...or who might appreciate these for Christmas amongst the little people I know. 

In My Shop: Bitty Bow Wows

Perhaps some of you may have been waiting for this--3 little Bitty Bow Wows are up for adoption in my shop.  You can find them here. (Fair Warning: other than those I will be selling at No Coast Craft O'Rama, these will be the only Bitty Bow Wows that I plan to make between now and the holidays--so if you have your eye on one, now is the time to act, my friend).  And for anyone who might care, I have also put a couple of new Babies on a Stick in my shop--look here. 

In My Shop: Matchbox Monsters

6 itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny, brightly colored little baby monsters, all tucked in their cozy little matchbox beds.  You can find them in my shop, here.