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EtsyKids Design Challenge May: We have a Winner!

May's Design Challenge had the theme "Thank you Teacher". We had lots of lovely entries from our team member but the winning entry with the most votes was...

Handmade Denim Teacher Tote Bag Personalized Appliqued

by Tried and True Designs on Etsy

Every teacher needs a bag to carry books, papers to grade, and "stuff". Your favorite teacher will look great with a personalized denim teacher bag. The teacher bag is made of heavy denim, lined with a cotton school themed print. Appliqued on the outside of a large pocket is the teacher's name and appropriate school items for her grade level. 

~ Tried and True Designs

Tried and True Designs also offers a whole range of personalised items, from baby bibs, baby clothing, school bags, diaper bags, and more! Visit her Etsy shop to see what she has to offer.

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Meet Etsy Seller Felt Like Celebrating

Today we would like to introduce you to Stephanie

and their Etsy shop Felt Like Celebrating

Felt Like Celebrating has been selling on Etsy since July 2011, they offers a variety of lovely Felt crowns, birthday crowns, bunting & party supplies. Today they are sharing a little about their shop and selling handmade items.


What motivated you to start your shop?
Like a lot of people I started making things for my little ones and people said I should sell them. So I opened up shop and it was a hit pretty much from the get go! 

What is the story behind your shop name?
In the beginning everything in my shop was made with felt so I wanted to incorporate the word 'felt' somewhere in the title. And because my items could be used for parties I decided to add the 'celebrating' part on. I think it's a great fit for your shop.

What surprised you most about having your own craft / online shop?
Between all the websites I sell on I've posted around 700 packages over the past 2.5 years. Even after all that time I still get a thrill when someone orders from me!  I can only imagine just how busy I could be if lived in the United States.

What is your favourite creations from your shop?
I love Love love making my personalized name crowns. I take pride in the fact that each one is one of a kind!

What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?
Keeping up with all the convo's. And I do have to admit some days are a little tough to find the motivation to start sewing. For example being up all the night before with a sick baby. But it all has to get done and 95% of the time I love doing it.

Please tell us a little about the children's items market / handmade movement in your Country? 
It's going quite well. I live in New Zealand and we have an etsy equivalent website that I successfully sell my items on. My city also has some well established craft markets that are popular venues for selling children's items.

Felt Like Celebrating is offering a 10% discount to all our blog readers. To use the coupon visit her etsy store and enter code "FLC10" at checkout.

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Under the Sea Birthday Bash !

Summer is here and that means lots and lots of birthday parties and best of all, backyard parties!

The Under the Sea theme is very popular in the summer months for obvious reasons but it can be used any time of the year just bring the party indoors - minus the water of course!  The theme is great because you have a lot to work with and it can be a very easy unisex birthday theme as well.  There are so many great colors and animals to work with you don't just have to stick to one.  Please take note of the great coupon codes at the end of this post.

Lets start with location. If you have a backyard with a pool then perfect, your set.  But not all of us do, so if you don't have a pool, fill tons of baby pools - add sprinklers, slip-and-slide type water games and make your own "water park."  Fill a colorful tub with water balloons and water guns and have them run around to cool each other off!  You could also ask a community pool if they rent out an area for events and you can use their pool and facility.  A park or beach park is another great option.  Check to see if they permit gatherings and the cost, some may even be free you may just have to clean up!  If you have a pool a great safety idea is to hire a lifeguard for the day to come and watch the kids in the pool. You hear of so many tragedies this time of year; it's better safe then sorry .

Once you have your location and a date set it's time for invitations. Here are two different examples of invites for this theme.  The invitation on the left is a very cute Mermaid theme invitation from BonJourBerry
This invitation is a digital invitation that you can choose your size of 4x6 or 5x7.  Once you order it you will get the file and print the invitation at home or your local printing store. The second invitation (right) is from TooCuteInvites and is a printed and assembled invite in the underwater theme in the 5x7 size and has a great little crab on it. Both shops offer matching items to complete the party needs as well.



Once that is in place then its time to plan the birthday boy or girls outfits ! Here are some great options. This Coral Ikat and Pink Chevron made by Wearyougo dress is a beautiful peasant dress mixing a great color combo or teal and coral for that underwater / beach feel but the best part is if you don't love this one you can design your own dress ! The Steel Blue with Orange Whale Applique by BrownOwlDesign is so cute for your birthday boy to wear on his big day The colors are great and it can be worn again after the party! The Felt Fish Crown by Feltlikecelebrating is great for both boys and girls and also comes in different colors  another great picture prop as well for those special pictures! The Personalized Sea Creators  Birthday Shirt by JustJoshinKids is another great unisex shirt and it is personalized for the birthday boy or girl with their age and name! All great and very special .



Now its time to decorate! Use aqua blue, coral , peach and sea foam green as a great color pallet and use it in linens, napkins and utensils. Balloons in blues representing bubbles are cute too. Here are some great items to use as well. Banners are always great and personal. This Mermaid banner from Teapartydesigns is adorned with rhinestones, glitter and already strung for you ready to hang. Another adorable product is these Seahorse Wash clothes from Princessandthepbaby would make great favors but I would add them to a centerpiece ! fill a beach pail as a balloon weight and add these to make a beautiful table scape. The little Goldfish cupcake toppers by Yourlittlecupcake are great way to show off your cupcakes! They come in sets of 12 and they also sell the matching wrappers . Hang green and blue streamers from your screen door making an entry way  and have some falling straight down to add that effect of entering a water oasis would be perfect for setting the scene!



Activities to keep these kiddies busy are a must and here are some that would be fun for them to play! Set up a table as if you were at the carnival playing the goldfish toss game. Buy the same amount of small goldfish bowls as you have kids and fill them with water and a little goldfish.  Make them line up and toss a ping pong ball onto the bowls and if they get one in they get to keep the fishes inside and the bowl.  Have them all wait until everyone goes and as a surprise give each kid a fish bowl so they don't get upset as they leave attach a little zip lock bag with fish food and a favor tag as a thank you and you have both a favor and a game!

Another cute idea is fill a kiddie pool with little blue and white balloons representing water.  Cut out little card stock fish in different colors and attach a paper clip to their mouths.  Place them in the tub and have each child fish with their fishing pole that you can use a wooden dowel paint it and add string with a magnet at the end. Whoever fishes out a special fish wins a prize.  

Sand art is another way to keep them busy you  can set up a sand art station and buy different color sands and little containers they can fill and make there own thank you gift they will remember forever!

Here are more great favors and or a prize idea to hand out! Fill these adorable 4x6 muslin hand stamped bags by Littlechicklets with candies or toys the ink comes in many colors as well. This Little Crab hair clip by MarmaladeCreations is perfect for all the little girls there! it is a 1x2 snap clip and comes in different backgrounds colors as well. I love these Eco Friendly Fish Crayons by ChildhoodStore they are perfect for little hands and are in a set of 6 2x1 1/2 inch crayons and are made by soy/bees wax so they are green too ! Also another green option are these Reusable coloring pages  by BabyZebracreations that they can use over and over again ! just color with washable markers and wash them when finished ! I am sure they would love any of these products.

Last but not least you have to feed these little fishies use your imagination and try some of these out.

• Fish shaped sandwiches - make your favorite sandwich then cut them use a fish cookie cutter or other favorite underwater animal.
• Goldfish crackers in cupcake cupcakes that they can snack on as they play are always a favorite treat.
• Macaroni "Sea Shell" Salad - Make your favorite macaroni salad and use the large shell shaped pastas.
• Blue Hawaiian Punch Bowl - add some Fish ice cube shapes to make it like fishes are swimming in there.
• Carrot sticks can be turned into "crab legs" with dip
• Rice Crispy Treat Star Fish - make Rice Crispy Treats and use a star shaped cookie cutter for the shape

Use your imagination!  Decorate the table with brown sugar for a sandy effect as well and use matching color linens to tie it all together.

No matter what you choose to do have fun! and make the party about the children most importantly isn't it all about them and there day anyway?

All these Items were selected from EtsyKids Team members by me and they have been kind enough to include some coupon codes below! Saving money anyway you can is always a perk! All shop names mentioned in the post are linked to the shop.

FeltLikeCelebrating - code - FLC10 10% off your order
WearYouGo -  code- LOVEIT2013 - 10% off your order
BabyZebraCreations - code - Shipforfree - Free domestic shipping
JustJoshinkids - code - handmadebirthday - 15%off all custom birthday shirts exp 6/21/13
brownowldesign - code - Summer20 - 20% off entire order
BonjourBerry - code - Etsykids10off - 10% off your order exp 7/31/13
PrincessAndThePbaby - Like on Facebook and get 10% off code
YourlittleCupcake - code -EtsyKidsParty - 15% off your order
TooCuteInvites - code - UNDERTHESEA - 10% off your order
Littlechickletes - code- etsykids - 10% off your order

Happy Celebrating and Stay tuned for next months post !
Xo
Adriana

Adriana's shop is Too Cute Invites, Unique handmade invitations and party accessories. You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter for updates and new items.

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Meet Etsy Seller BrooklynOwl

Today we would like to introduce you to Annie

and their Etsy shop Brooklyn Owl

BrooklynOwl has been selling on Etsy since February 2011, they sell a range of hair accessories and decorations, including their most popular unicorn horn hair clips! Today they are sharing a little about their shop and selling handmade items.


What motivated you to start your shop?
I was pregnant with my daughter in 2008 and I started to hand sew decorations for her nursery.
Then after years of dreaming of starting a business I started Brooklyn Owl in 2010 inspired by my 2 year old.

What is the story behind your shop name?
I have lived in Brooklyn since 2007 and I feel so inspired living
here. I love it so much and I knew I wanted it to be a part of my business name.  My daughter's favorite animal and one of her first words was "owl" thanks to the owls at the Prospect Park Zoo and so Brooklyn Owl just felt right.

What is your favourite creations from your shop?
My current favorite items that I really enjoy making are my unicorn horns.  They were my daughter's idea and they bring me such joy seeing her wear them and getting to send them around the world for others to enjoy as well.

What do you find most challenging about being an Etsy seller?
Etsy is open 24 hours a day so it is hard for me to step away from my
shop!  I care about my customers and I want them to have a pleasant
shopping experience and that often causes me to respond to customers and package orders hours after I am supposed to be in bed!

What's your personal philosophy behind your shop / products?
I strive to create products that are both fun and functional that make people's lives a little brighter and the world a little cuter.

What do you do when you aren't working?
It can be really hard for me to put down my sewing needles but some
of my favorite moments away from work are relaxing with my husband and daughter.  I hope to spend a lot of time at Coney Island this summer!

BrooklynOwl is offering a 10% discount on all purchases. To use the coupon visit her etsy store and enter code "ETSYKIDSJUNE" at checkout, valid through the month of June 2013.

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Sleep Tips & Techniques for Newborns to 12 Month Olds

Hello! I'm so happy to have an opportunity to share with you today in my first guest post for EtsyKids. My name is Natural Mama Nell and I blog over at Whole Parenting Family, and share my organic modern mama & baby goods at Whole Parenting Goods. Find me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter.

I'm a mother of two, three years old & one year old and I write primarily about parenting, gardening, crafting, cooking, and all about our journey of familyhood. EtsyKids is a wonderful community for artisans and appreciators alike! Glad we're all here. 

Today I'm sharing about sleep. Babies. The first question people ask. Does your baby sleep through the night? No? Here are my suggestions as to how to achieve that! Okay, maybe it's not phrased that way, but that's their point. Followed by How much does she weight? Oh, she's tiny. or Oh, she's huge. Every child is unique, has her own needs, and her own sleep routines (and size)!

For starters, all my posts on sleep are here. Starting with SuperBoy sleeping through the night at 12 weeks, simply due to the fact he didn't want to night nurse anymore. Ending with the fact that SweetPea, although night weaned at 12 months (nota bene, months, not weeks), still awakens at least once a night to be comforted back to sleep. 

1) Birth to 6 months.

I, along with a bunch of other moms and several experts, feel that the first six months of life are to be led primarily by the baby's needs. Keeping that infant on you, close to you, within smell-shot of your milk means you're going to have a better chance at meeting whatever your nursing goal is. Why? Because she nurses more often at first, and that makes more milk storage for later. How does this relate to sleep? Because your breastmilk has relaxing go-to-sleep hormones in it.

Don't forget the cotton absorbent nursing pads. Just in case you leak out!

My babies nap all over the place for the first six months. Literally. On my stomach, my chest, in the carrier, in the crib, in our bed, etc. We co-sleep for the first six months. A routine evolves over time--morning naps around 9 am and 1 pm the closer they get to 6 months old. But I don't sweat it because I know baby will pass out anywhere and sleep through most noise and commotion. I'm not worried about supine, darkened room sleep. I'm certainly not worried about self-soothing as that means baby's sucking reflex isn't doing its job: making my milk come in and stay in.

At night time, baby can go down around 9pm, then awaken at 12, then three or four am, and then get up again around 7 or 8--maybe with a nice monster nap after the early morning feeding. It's all across the board. When you have two, this can be tricky because the baby may pass out right when the toddler/preschooler is up & at 'em. This makes for a lot of extracting your nipple from the sleeping babe's mouth and ensuring she's safely stashed somewhere she won't be hurt if she awakens when you're in an epic take-off-the-night-diaper-battle. (Which NEVER happens with my precious angel of a boy. :)

2) 6-12 months.

Help baby transition to sleep in their crib or floor bed (for the Montessorians among us) with a special object. For us, it's been a soft bunny. Something like this beautifully crochet bunny rabbit. Healthy naps led to better night sleep--or so they say. We aim for two naps, 1.5 hours - 2 hours each, around 9:30am and 2pm. We night weaned her at a year, so middle-night-wake ups are for my husband at this point.

I'd wrap the baby in a muslin swaddle blanket--the big 45x45 kind, not the velcro ones. Loosely. This is to keep limps together when softening for sleep and when lowering into the crib. I rock in a 40 year old rocking chair, nurse, burp over my shoulder, nurse on the other side, then walk around the room gently burping because SweetPea ALWAYS has a double burp no matter what, shhhhhhhhing in her ear. The older she got, the more I'd say Now we'll see bunny and cuddle and sleep with bunny. Sleep. Bunny. Sleep. Bunny. I'd lay her down in the crib oh-so-gently-cursing-why-the-bottom-is-so-far-down and lay her on her side usually. The thin blanket keeps the body parts from flinging out and awakening your angel-devil. Lay the head down last and most quietly. She is usually semi-conscious. If she's SCREAMING it means she's not sleepy enough yet. Redo. If she awakens 45 minutes in, redo because that's not long enough.

A great swaddle blanket with beautiful organic bamboo jersey knit would have the right weight to give her that tucked in feel.

I gently drape her arm over the bunny/ blankie, and wrap that blanket over her body, tucking it against her back so it feels like someone is there. Then I sneak out of the room that has a VERY loud box fan going to cut the noise from the rest of the house. We laid down extra oriental rugs in her room because the hardwood floors, though beautiful, are terribly creaky.

Sometimes she startles awake and I lean over the crib with a hand on her hip or bum, shhhhhhhing and slowly rubbing (not to stimulate and awaken her! this isn't a sports massage). Sometimes I abandon her and she is sleepy enough she'll go back down after 4-6 minutes of protesting.

If she is awake and screaming, you may have to just leave her to deal with your own sanity, or your older child. Sometimes protest naps happen. Don't beat yourself up about it. But when they happen closer to age one, it's easier on the baby's system. Baby's are tough but delicate. Abandon them too often and they're a hot mess. Stay with them every single second and they're stinkers. A good absorbent diaper at night is key as well. Something like this fun but functional rainbow diaper.

I'm not convinced cry-it-out works to teach the child self-soothing at a young age. It teaches them to pass out from exhaustion. And then you have to retrain them every time a new tooth, new anything happens in their life. Certainly not appropriate for the developmental baby mind under 6 months, it may have its place for your sanity as the baby gets closer to one year old. Maybe.

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All in all, the child whose needs are met when she's small is a more independent, happier, and better adjusted one. I've seen that time and time again with my own kiddos, with friends' children, and in the literature. Nursing frequently, carrying or wearing your baby, and sharing sleep make little infancy easier, in my opinion. Setting your child up for a smooth transition to sleep by laying her down when she's groggy but not completely passed out makes for a longer, better day nap as she ages.

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Treasury Challenge #10 - Pretty in White

The theme for the EtsyKids Team treasury challenge #10 was "Pretty in White".
Out team members created lots of beautiful treasuries featuring some amazing items, but the winner with 158 views is...

"A Vision in White" by eLeMeNOPkids

Thank you Erica for creating such a lovely treasury!

eLeMeNOPkids specialize in all things KIDS! They hand paint wall letters for your child's room, and also make various educational and fun activities geared toward keeping your little one learning, and using their IMAGINATIONS through pretend play! You can view more of her creations in her etsy shop.

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