SouleMama Sponsor ~ Natural Kids Store ~

Today, we bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Natural Kids Store . In their own words:

"We are a group of artisans from around the world who share a love for handcrafting eco friendly & all-natural toys, clothing, decor and more for kids, and kids at heart."

SouleMama: What inspired you to start your business?

Kristi, Tickey Bu: My kids not only inspired me to start the business, they continue to provide most of the inspiration for my work today. Pretty much every product and design decision, including colorway combinations, has come out of a need that my own kids expressed. An oversized towel to accommodate my super tall daughter, a throw to ensure everyone could snuggle together at night as they slept, a teething lovey for my third child who had such a hard time with his early teeth. I have a story for each product and for every color I've ever used. And I got to ensure that everything is eco-friendly so I can continue to teach my kids the importance of leaving this earth in better shape than when we found it. I opened Tickety Bu for myself, as a creative outlet, but everything I do is for them.

SouleMama: How do you come up with new designs and ideas?

Kelly, MudHollow: I have a lot of amazing customers that request custom work; these projects are always so much fun and frequently push me to develop new designs that I would have never thought of on my own. I love being challenged in this way! I also work off of suggestions of my kids, husband, family and friends - right now there is a request for an alien from a family member's sketch! When I am completely stumped, I frequently turn to old children's books. Just flipping through pages will often bring a bit of inspiration. Once I have an idea, I create a lot of sketches, test out patterns and make a lot of mistakes! I try to look at my "mistakes" to see if they can be turned into something else. For example, I accidentally cut some tiny felt hearts a bit wonky. I couldn't bear to throw them out, and I guess I must have been craving sweets, so I turned them into some little heart shaped cookies for my felt mice. I had a blast making those and decided to make some cupcakes next. I just have a lot of fun thinking "What can I do next?" Whether it is adding to an existing line, or coming up with something completely new, the process of designing and developing the ideas is my favorite part of making toys!

SouleMama: What's your favorite part of your job?

Dustin, Armadillo Dreams: The favorite part of my job is the feedback we receive from our customers. After sales are complete customers generally leave us publicly available feedback in our shop and/or send us an email. It's usually not just short "thanks for the wooden toys" types of messages either. Our customers will usually write a few sentences to a paragraph about the toys they received from us. We really enjoy reading stories about how excited their children were to receive the toys and how they helped their children to have some great imaginative play time. Sometime they will tell us about how their child wanted to take the toys with them everywhere and even asked to take them to bed with them. Hearing stories like these warms our hearts and gives us a really good feeling about what we are doing. It's our fuel to keep going and to continue expanding our business!

SouleMama: How are your children incorporated into your business?

Wendy, BirchLeaf Designs: Our children are actually the ones who planted the seed to start BirchLeaf Designs. In fact, the business is named after them! "Birch" is Milo's middle name and "Leaf" is Kiah's...it was all too fitting! In 2006, we attended one of our favorite festivals in Michigan, Blissfest. Looking at all the artist booths, Kiah thought it would be cool if we did that too, after all, we were already attending! We may as well have a booth as well...and children's toys were to be the product. Soon after we had made some swords, shields, playsilks and other fun toys, Kiah and Milo had come up with their first product, watercolor color cards. They didn't stop there though, they went on to make earrings, hair pretties, pretend dynamite, carved knives, and Milo has produced two music CD's. They sell their wares from the BirchLeaf booth at festivals and our local farmer's market, and they have also opened up shop on Etsy as well! Give them some love at http://www.northernchildren.etsy.com.

SouleMama: As a child, what did you wish to become when you grew up?

Sarah,  Woolies : As a child, and all through my life, I've been in love with horses. When I was 2, we moved to a home where our next door neighbor was a horse stable. That was the beginning. Currently, we have 2 horses, a quarter horse and a mustang rescue, and we just recently adopted a wild/abused pony. So, I knew that my life would include horses. And kids. And writing. But that's another story. :)

SouleMama: What inspires you?

Daria, Art of Felting: Aren't we made in the image and likeness of  the Creator? I have a feeling, that this wonderful world with all it's variety is reflected in my manifold plans and  I'm streaming with  it inspired by everything, like  waters and winds,  seasonal changes of  weather,  a sight of a child, sunrise and sunset and just a sky, blue or gray... Sand and snow, desert and forests, friendship, motherhood and love.. To say it shortly- the life.

Shops participating in this giveaway...

Armadillo Dreams, Art of Felting, BirchLeaf Designs, German Dolls, Handmaiden Canada,

MudHollow, The Enchanted Cupboard, Tickety Bu, Woolies and Ziezo Designs

For today's giveaway,  Natural Kids Store is generously offering the following gift to ONE winner:

~Summer Ocean Giveaway Package, shown above!

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To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8am EST on Sunday, and announce the winner, chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after.  Comments closed! The winner is...

I love it all!
Posted by: Marydop

Thank  you,  Natural Kids Store!