I’ve mentioned my kids attend a magical preschool, where play and imagination is the main focus. I’ve also learned that when you combine creative parents into the mix ~ magical things happen. A few weeks ago, the children from my twins’ class were taken into the nearby woods for a forest walk. I’m so happy I stayed to help that day because I watched an amazing adventure unfold! We started out along our regular trail and started to notice ‘fairy dust’ sparkling on the forest floor. Leading from the forest trail were little pathways of glitter that the teacher’s pointed out must have been left by fairies. Well upon further investigation the children (and parents) noticed fairy doors with accessories leaned up against the bottoms of trees and the effect was amazing. The doors with ladders, door knobs, windows, & fairy jewels melted into the forest and were beautifully earthy and playful – just like the gnomes and fairies that dance and play (we decided) within the trees.

This wonderful bonus in addition to walking through the forest on a glorious sunny day was so imaginative and I appreciated the effort from one very creative parent in our class. One of the moms had crafted the fairy doors herself and come to the forest the day before the forest walk and built little walkways to the doors with sticks, crafted ladders, propped up paper umbrellas so the fairies could sip their drinks without getting their wings wet from the rain, and more! Her older children had helped her ~ what a great eco-activity for children!  And don’t think this is only for preschoolers. After my older sons had finished school for the day, I took them to the forest that they had walked through for so many years attending the same preschool and they were SO excited by seeing the fairy doors. “I can’t believe they are real!  Look – here is the proof!” … my boys kept saying to each other. We told them to be gentle because if they forced a fairy door to open, it would vanish into air – but knocking was okay.

I have the eternal love for fairies inside me and hope to pass that to my girls (my boys obviously have it already) and I hope to decorate the nearby forest by my house with some fairy doors of my own this summer. Sharing the magic with a simple fairy door adds to the beauty of any forest and imagine the glee a child would experience by finding one unexpectedly?  I also thought this would be amazing for a fairy themed birthday party. You could do an eye-spy version at the party and leave goodie bag items at each tree stump ‘from the fairies’ like wooden wands to decorate, hand made fairy furniture, and more!

If you’ve been thinking of creating a fairy garden – you only need to look at these two sites.  The site called The Magic Onions will have your heart on-fire for any fairy fans. Check out her Fairy Garden and numerous articles on making fairy furniture.  She is amazing!!  I’ve also purchased from and been a long time fan of The Enchanted Cupboard. Her wooden fairy dolls and sets are magical and the perfect addition to any fairy garden or child’s playroom.

From Rosie ~ our wonderful preschool mom, to The Magic Onion and her dedication to sharing the magic of creating fairy themed items from nature, to award winning artist Beccijo – I only need to peek inside your worlds and become inspired – thanks for sharing ladies!

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My Christmas shopping woes have ended for my girls, as I’ve struggled this year with finding safe and fun (!!) gifts for under the tree Christmas morning. They love dolls so much, but we already have a few plastic ones that I’ve been looking to replace because I don’t want them snuggling with PVC. Well…bring on the Christmas cheer because I’ve not only found handcrafted cloth dolls that are beyond adorable (and affordable), but also felt food that ‘had me at hello’ when I saw the apple slices.  Think I’m exaggerating? Read on and check out the doll pictures and food pictures – I’ve never seen anything like either online or locally…

If you are also looking for cloth alternatives to plastic with dolls before Christmas, keep a close eye on Secelie’s shop this week. She’s posting 14 new dolls next week and like all other custom doll makers, is not accepting custom orders until the New Year.  With the price point and next to nothing shipping cost, her site is amazing!  It’s called Heart Felts and each little cutie is hand-made. My twins are always ‘coded’ by color because one loves blue and the other loves pink.  It works for us so when I saw some of the funky hair selections form Secelie, I knew I found the right place. Here is a picture of what will be under the tree Christmas morning for my girls. Thanks Secelie!

I’ve also been on a quest to purchase enough felt food that my girls can pretend grocery shop, play kitchen, play restaurant, without breaking my bank account. I want to replace all the plastic food they’ve inherited from my sons. Well as I mentioned above, once I saw the apple slices from MudPie Kids – my quest was over. Especially when you see her well-priced listing called ‘Everything but the kitchen sink’ …what a deal!  The detail is more realistic than you’ll ever find with wooden or plastic pretend food.  Look at the fruit selection!

So cute!  And the bananas actually peel! I purchased everything on this plate, plus

2 pancakes w/ syrup
4 apple slices
2 strawberries
4 carrots

And wait until you see the hot-dog buns with ketchup and mustard.  I just love it!

2 hotdog w/ bun ketchup, and mustard 
2 fried eggs
2 drumsticks
1 watermelon
4 orange slices
2 bananas

A very reasonable listing and items that are guaranteed to get lots of use.  I also feel great about supporting two ladies that are making incredible, safe, and quality items from the US.  I love dolls and felt food from Europe but there’s something to be said about trying to shop as locally as possible this year.  Thanks for making this year so easy with your creativity!

Okay I’m going to stop now, but check out this popcorn!  And when you check out her site, look at the whole chicken dinner, cherry pie, eggs, and sushi!

I’m pretty confident that if every little girl was given a tea set with play food on Christmas morning – the squeals would be heard around the world. It’s one of those things you simply don’t question. Girls never tire of having pretend tea parties and after using the world’s possibly greenest set for 2 years, my Christmas pick for the younger crowd is the Green Toys tea set. Because Green Toys make their products from recycled milk jugs and manufacture their products in the US,  the eco-friendly status of this toy is wonderful…not to mention you don’t have to worry about phthalates or BPA. My girls drink from the tea cups and tea pot in the bath tub every night – it’s their nightly routine. This set has been the best toy they’ve owned and I love that it’s safe for them to mouth and drink from.

I’d like to point to an Etsy store for my ‘cupcake’ pick because I think everyone should have some handmade, uniquely handcrafted toys and gifts under their tree this year. I would love to see a decline in the profits of huge toy companies and see a boom in the sales of small companies that have gone back to the ’safe’ way of creating toys for our children to play with. Felt is a material I’m very fond of and plan to incorporate felt food into one of the larger gifts for my girls this year. These felt play cookies and cupcakes from the Etsy store Sugar Chic Baby are next on my list to order for Christmas shopping.  They look so real!

If you have a special theme in mind for your gift ideas this year, why not try Etsy first before heading to Toys R Us or to Walmart? Think your kids that love to dress-up would appreciate a new item for their trunk?  Try going to Etsy.com and use the search field to source gifts this year. What a difference for our children’s health and the planet’s health.  Much of the plastic from packaging and products themselves would be eliminated. Not to mention we’d be supporting many moms that appreciate the extra income to handcraft these truly special items. Try it – you get a really good feeling from shopping this way.

I love blocks and if there was only one toy a child could own I would recommend building blocks. Even babies love to chew blocks and knock over anything mommy or daddy builds.  Toddlers are so incredibly proud of themselves when they manage to stack a few blocks before they tumble down. And older children, even my 7 year old, creates amazing designs from his imagination with blocks. They are a classic toy that should be a staple in any child’s closest.  Here are 3 amazing sets of blocks – all different – all with serious WOW power.

Ukoonto Blocks

Canadian manufactured, produced, and distributed, these blocks are made by hand (yes that is correct!!) by Hans, the founder of Ukoonto. These blocks are made from never-used, recycled Maple wood. The blocks are untreated and contain no toxic materials making them safe for teething gums and all children to explore. Each of the 50 blocks included in a set are hand-crafted by Hans – what a different experience than traditional painted blocks that are mass manufactured in China. Available through Pedagogy Toys – call and order with contact info on their website:

Tree Branch Blocks:

The creativity of nature is abundant with this next set of blocks. Made from Alder trees, these blocks are kiln dried with a wax finish. I love that Natural Pod has sourced this product local to their home base on Canada’s West Coast ~ Vancouver Island. These blocks are sold in 3 different sets of sizes – with a great scale in price. Tree branch blocks are like functional pieces of art for children.  A magical gift idea for kids of any age.

A Little World

Here is a little gem that reached through my monitor and just made my heart so happy.  These blocks are truly special and creative, made by an Etsy artist that is simply brilliant with their design concept of little Christmas house blocks made with felt.  Are they not just the cutest?

Obviously for the younger crowd, but what a wonderful, heirloom, unique gift these would make for an expectant mom or baby’s first Christmas this year. While you are at A Little World’s Etsy shop – check our the mobiles for babe (the sheep are my favorite). . . simple, modern, and fun designs!

Whether you prefer traditional, nature, or artistically inspired designs, building blocks are a classic, timeless gift for all children. If you are looking for ideas this Christmas – these three featured products are just the ticket. And yes with Halloween only hours away, it’s officially time to start Christmas gift planning for 2009 – Santa has started listening.

If you believe in love at first sight, get ready to fall in love. Quickly.

From the moment I first saw Tressa and her magical Dress Me Up corner at the EPIC convention, I was stunned by the magical product line that can be summed up with one word tender. And that is what you want to surround your baby with – tender, beautiful, unique, handcrafted, quality items. Tressa has designed her organic product line to be safe (even encouraged!!) to go into a teething baby’s mouth and surrounds their soft skin with organic cotton, lamb’s wool, and earth friendly ink. As a parent you don’t need to question if it contains chemicals, BPA, Phthalates, or harmful dyes.  The entire Dress Me Up line is not only beautiful and made with an artists’ eye, every piece is practical and something a baby will love. Her line of organic toys is what first caught my eye ~ take a peek and imagine the play. Read on to learn about the whimsical and practical items.

I personally love to give gifts that receive the “ohh” and “ahh” factor because of how unique and functional they are.  When it comes to toys for babies and toddlers all they need are blocks or balls. With my summer packed with lots of babies arriving for friends, I’ve really made it my mission to control last minute rushed gift spending and plan ahead with uniquely sourced baby gifts. Why would I head off to Babies R Us and purchase something ordinary (and probably terrible for the environment), when alternatives exist like Dress Me Up? You can feel wonderful about purchasing safe, practical, eco-friendly, unique, and gorgeous products ~ that a baby actually needs!  Sound too good to be true?  Check out the newly unveiled Dress Me Up site that is so clean and easy to navigate through, I keep finding more to love. Here is her signature Dress Me Up Teething BonBons perfectly designed so baby can hold the middle and chew the frozen ends. 

Tressa’s handcrafted items make parents happy to unwrap because above all, she is an incredible artist.  Even her practical items have unique embroidering making all Dress Me Up products one of a kind. I love the leaf bibs, baby blankets, and receiving blankets with the special touch of her handcrafted magic and use of sustainable materials. 

And really, I didn’t need anything else in the Dress Me Up lineup to love and drool over (need to purchase myself a leaf bib) I’ve got the rabbit rattles in my head. Here we go again – a product only a mother could design because they are soft to touch, safe to mouth, and beautiful for a new mom to open. Check out the Dress Me Up site and let yourself fall in love.