Things I'm Admiring

Pushing Daisies Fashion

I so miss Pushing Daisies but atleast I have the memory! I created this set recently in Polyvore. I just needed a visual pick me up today.

Adventures In Babysitting

I've been feeling super crafty and staying so busy. I kind of slack when it comes to blogging about my fun. I enjoy babysitting and I had the opportunity to sit with some sweet kiddos. The night ranged from playing with "old" toys like smurfs and wrestlers to eating pizza and creating shrinky dink magic. Everything was enjoyable but the best was brushing little M's teeth and making shrinky dinks with my man friend and H, the oldest kiddo. H was an absolute doll. She was helpful, excited, and totally understanding to our uncertainty of the project outcome. I brought lots of supplies and vintage flash cards for drawing ideas. We followed the directions from Poopscape's tutorial and away we went! These aren't the best pics but I'm happy I took them just the same.

Thrifting Genius

My Mom is a thrifting genius! Just when I think she can't surprise me, she does. Mommy travels (in TX) a bit for work and I am just beside myself waiting for her return. Not only am I happy that she is back in town but she almost always comes bearing thrifted goods.

This time she brought me some vintage and I do mean vintage cards. Some of them are dated as early as 1942! All of them bring to mind a more polite time. There is even a card to thank you for your "Christmas Greeting". Really!?! The collection includes the most delightful baby cards and thank you cards. *Gush* I won't divulge too much; these may grace your mail box (someday).

Next she handed me a pill bottle...full of tiny fish head and fish tail push pins. SQUAWK! That was the pleasant sort of squawk, the kind that says I'm so excited and so appreciative. Oh and I'm the self-proclaimed Queen Of Big Sunglasses. So when she pulled the white beauties out I almost let a little go!

Oh Mommy you are so wonderful. I don't think I could ever express how my love for you hums and ticks to a sweet diddy. We need to have hot toddies and giggle over nonsense soon. xoxo

I did it! I'm on etsy!

It has taken me for-ev-er to get my act together enough to even start an etsy site. I did it and I hope to keep adding new and vintage items to my shop! There are so many ideas floating around in my fuzzy brain. I just need to get them out. They said something about ransom. Don't fear I have a great friend who is a secret agent. She's good at talking ideas down.

Help Save Handmade

From the website Handmade Toy Alliance…
In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public’s trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small part, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and update their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers and manufacturers of children’s products, however, the costs of mandatory testing will likely drive them out of business
Taken from one of my favorite handmakers...
What this means for me and my plush is this…as of the next shop update everything I make and sell will be sold + labeled as artwork intended for adults. Now that being said this is still a big deal, this is going to effect anyone making products for children like handmade clothing, handmade cloth diapers, all those amazing one of a kind baby toys on Etsy! What about independent toy shops and the amazing variety of toys? You can check out the website above for more info on how you can get involved to spread the word and let congress know how you feel about this new law.

While I totally support lead testing on toys, the law as written is very clearly flawed. Help save the handmade toys!!

My turn.
This is very important to me as well because I love to buy handmade goodies and hope to make some in the future. If we don't express our concern this could change our little handmade world. Please check it out! You can help too by writing a letter or copying this one

xoxo