April 2012 EtsyKids Desktop Background

Here is the desktop calendar for April 2012! This month the theme was Easter with lots of bunnies and chicks! You can see a treasury of all these items here.

1024 x 768

1280 x 800

1920 x 1080

Featured shops: fortheloveofzebra, Sweetchildofmine, ToastieStudio, CrochetVilliage, Raegun, LilBDesigns, crocheting4baby, CuddleWumkins, Avabowtiquee, boygirlboygirldesign, PipandOlive, Prettydreamer, stitchinnetka, WoodPondDesigns, jennifernoeldesigns, pieshomecreations, LuckyLuCreations, CakeInTheMorn, TizzyDee, lollipopsandunicorns.

Tweet

EtsyKids Design Challenge: We have a Winner!

Congratulations to the winner of our March's challenge, Gender Neutral Baby Bib, Yellow Bee, Baby Shower Gift, 6 Months by maddywear!

"Gender Neutral Baby Bib, Yellow Bee, Baby Shower Gift, 6 Months

Maddy Wear® bibs are a unique, one-of-a-kind, handmade bib that is made with a soft durable cotton fabric and flannel lining. These bibs will protect your child's clothing and save you money! 

Before using Maddy Wear® bibs, customers stated that they weighed what types of food to feed their child based on what they were wearing, but now their clothes remain virtually stain free!

These bibs are a symmetrical tank style design, which is also reversible, so they are four bibs in one! One shoulder is sewn, while the other has a snap with two additional snaps that run along the torso of the bib. 

With this easy-on, easy-off design children don't realize they are wearing them, so the tug of war with standard bibs is over! They are also a great space saver in the diaper bag by getting you through multiple meals!"

Please be sure to visit Maddy Wear, an innovative Etsy shop that caters to little messy eaters.  It's adds style, function and fun to an important part of child's wardrobe - bibs!  

Tweet

Introducing Tizzy Dee

Today We Introduce You To Courtney of TizzyDee

Q: What motivated you to start your shop?
Three years ago my sister bought me a "teach-yourself-to-crochet" book for my birthday. I got a little addicted/obsessed and after multiple requests from friends, I opened my Etsy shop.

Q: What is the story behind your shop name?

The shop is named after my daughter, Tizita Desta. Tizzy Dee is what we used to call her before she joined our family from Ethiopia.

Q: Do you have a favorite Etsy Shop (non-child related)?

I love Paint4Ethiopia. My friend Gina does amazing work with a portion of her proceeds going back into Ethiopia.

Q: What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?

I'm always surprised when I get international orders. It's amazing that people all over the world find my little shop and like my creations enough to purchase one!

Q: What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?

It is hard for me to find the time to make all the ideas I have in my head actually come to life.

Q: What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?

I try to create everything from my own patterns. I also try to create products that I enjoy making so my customers can see my love and care coming through each item. Almost all my items are custom-created after the order is placed, so each item can be customized by size and color, which makes each item fun and unique for each customer.

Q: How would someone (other then you) describe you?

Outgoing, expressive, fun.

Q: What music do you have on while you are creating?

I usually watch Netflix on my computer. I've burned through all seven seasons of Melrose Place, various wedding and cooking shows, and just started The United States of Tara.

Q: What do you do when you aren't working?

Play with my daughter, hang out with my husband and my family.

Q: Anything else you'd like to tell us or share?

We are an adoptive family and the sales from my shop have significantly helped us with the costs involved in our second adoption. I don't promote my shop as a fundraiser or say that a percentage of my sales are going towards our adoption, but it has been an amazing help! I want people to know that when they purchase from my shop, their money will be well spent. :)

Tweet

Hippity Hoppity Paper Bag Frog Puppets

By Cori of Peace, Baby! Batiks

Here’s an easy activity perfect for spring days when you’ve got just a little time for an activity: paper bag frog puppets! Even better, chances are pretty good you’ve already got everything you need:

Lunch-size brown paper bag
Green construction paper
Red construction paper
Googly eyes (the bigger the better!)
Glue

My inspiration came from this blog post. We made our frog puppets on Feb. 29 (aka, Leap Day) and paired them with a few of the Froggy books by author Jonathan London and illustrator Frank Remkiewicz. But, I think you’ll find this is great for any spring day or even an “F”-themed day – especially if you’ve got a good place to go looking for frogs!

First, you’ll need some basic shapes:

Two strips of green paper that are rounded on one end for eyes
Two green arms
Two green legs
Several green circles
A long red tongue

Depending on the age of your kids, you can either precut these shapes or trace them onto construction paper and let them do the cutting.

Glue the googly eyes onto the eye strips and fold under the bottom (non-round) end. Glue to the base of your paper bag.

Glue the eyes and legs inside the side folds of your paper bag. Glue the tongue under the bottom of the bag.

Last, glue the green dots all over your frog. Put your hand inside and start hopping!

Tweet

Tutorial:: DIY Diaper Wipes

From Emily of BusyChickadees and Raising Busy Chickadees. 

I started making my own disposable diaper wipes a few years ago. I love them! They are more natural and cheaper than the store-bought version.

Now, I use cloth diapers, so I use cloth wipes, but I wanted to share how to do this with my disposable diaper friends. I am going to use mine as eye make-up disposable wipes. You will be amazed at how easy it
is to do. Are you ready?

Homemade Disposable Diaper Wipes
Ingredients:
Bounty Paper Towels (select-a-size)
2 cups water
2 tablespoons baby wash (natural if possible)
2 tablespoons oil (canola oil, olive oil, and coconut oil work)
container
tea tree oil (optional).

Step 1 
Cut the rolls of paper towels in half with a serrated knife.

Step 2
Pour water into container. Add baby wash and oil. Stir.

Step 3 
Add 2 drops of tea tree oil (used to prevent mold) optional.

Step 4
Drop the half a roll of paper towel into the water. Wait until water has soaked into the paper towels and remove the center cardboard tube.

Step 5
Pull wipes up from the center.

**A note of caution. **If you seal the lid on tightly, you are almost guaranteed for your wipes to mold at some point. I just leave the lid cracked open and have not had a problem with that. How about you, have you used your own wipes before?


Find Emily online at Facebook and Twitter, by visiting her blog - Raising Busy Chickadees and her Etsy Shop - Busy Chickadees:

Tweet

Toddler Sensory Activity: Colored Spaghetti

I was making dinner the other night {spaghetti and meat sauce} and though how fun it would be to play with the spaghetti! I knew coloring it would make it even more fun so I did some browsing and found this video on how to color spaghetti. It's really easy...just take a look.

I didn't have any watercolors so I used food coloring. It worked just fine but didn't distribute the color all that evenly.

If you don't have a sensory table {I don't} then you can use a bowl, tupperware, one of those disposable lasagna pans {which we used}...pretty much anything your little heart desires. There are also tons of sensory table DIYs around the internet if you are handy enough to make one yourself. We also have a water table that we like to use.

Bug had so much fun playing in the spaghetti. In fact, it was an all day project! Here are all the things we did with it:

First we played with it using our hands.

 Then I broke out the toddler scissors.

 She had some trouble with them so I showed her to lay it over a cup and use 2 hands to cut.

 Then I held it and she used 2 hands to cut.

Bug served me some scoop-fulls using kitchen tongs {great for motor skill development}!

I even dared to let her take it out by the carpet to cook in her kitchen.

She stepped in the tub and wiggled her toes. {I think she liked this best - be careful though, it's slippery}

We took the spaghetti to the kitchen floor and made some shapes with them too!

It was so much fun! How will you play with spaghetti?

If you like this post and want to see more toddler activities please visit my blog, Tutus and Tea Parties. You can also follow me here: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest.

Tweet

Introducing All Wild Co.

Today We Introduce You To Nadia of All Wild Co.

Q: What motivated you to start your shop?
I’ve always lived a creative lifestyle. I worked as a fashion designer for some years before starting a family. While staying at home with my children, I felt inspired and encouraged to create something that would try and capture their full of life personalities, innocence and love for nature.

Q: What is the story behind your shop name?

For the shop’s name I took my inspiration from nature - organic, wild. Also I felt it reflected children's' infinite originality and their creative and playful spirit.

Q: Do you have a favorite Etsy Shop (non-child related)?
I love textiles, art and photography. These are some of my favorites:

twostringjane

wireanimals

lindamonfort

EyePoetryPhotography

laferrera

tushtush

SamanthaFrench

rinnshop

silverridgestudio

PeggyWolfDesign

unitedthread

tastesorangey

kikiandpolly

scoutandcatalogue

Q: What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?

I found it to be a very rewarding experience having your own online shop. It feels wonderful to see other folks enjoying your designs and workmanship. I’ve also picked up a lot of new skills and met some wonderful people along the way.

Q: What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?

Not enough hours in a day!

Q: What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?

I pledge to develop fresh, fun, functional items, and to try my best to make them as eco friendly and safe as possible. All my items are made of either 100% organic cotton, hemp or other unique eco friendly blends. I hand dye with non-toxic dyes and screen print with water-based inks. Always trying to support local business, I strive to source fabrics that have been grown and milled right here in the USA.

Q: How would someone (other then you) describe you?

A little shy, friendly...

Q: What music do you have on while you are creating?

Right now I enjoy music by Of Monsters and Men, Adele, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, and Fleetwood Mac.

Q: What do you do when you aren't working?

I have two children and when not working I devote most of my time to them. However, when ever I get a moment, I like to play piano, try new recipes, and skim through design magazines and blogs.

Q: Anything else you'd like to tell us or share?

I would like to mention how much I’ve enjoyed being a design challenge coordinator for this team. Every month I’m astonished by our members’ creativity and craftsmanship.

Tweet