Spring is in the air

Not surprising, but I am heading in a new direction, children's toys. It started when I created new Spring items for my shop. I thought I'd make some cute magnets, pins, tacks... Although these have been fun to make there has not been much interest for them in my shop. I really enjoyed trying new things and began brainstorming ideas.

I think it was around 2:00 a.m. when the random thought of crayons came to mind. My girls use them daily and I thought it would be a fun project to make recycled crayons. My intention was to have a crayon drive at work (a school) and then recycle these to give to children in the hospital. First I had to see if I could make them. After a little trial and error I was successfully making tiny flower, number, and car shaped crayons. The part I didn't like was the mess. Although these were fun to make the thought of bulk producing them had me rethinking my plans. Ironically my nephew had was admitted to the hospital for a stomach virus. I pulled out a set of bright colored vehicle crayons and a pad of paper to send to the hopsital. I am a cronicly late give giver so it made me feel good to have something on hand for a get well. Even if I never make crayons again it was worth it.

Today I pulled out the sewing machine again and some scraps of fabric. The result = bean bags. My girls have had so much fun today throwing them around. I just love the simplicity of handmade toys. I got a little creative and added ears and wiskers to a fleece bean bag. Too cutes. There are so many posiblilities that I decided to open a new etsy shop, MyKangaroo.etsy.com. I would like for a portion of the proceeds to go to March of Dimes. That is where the kangaroo part comes in (it's a NICU thing). Our oldest was born premature and I have always wanted a way to give back.

(pictures to come)